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PULPIT PRAYERS AND 
PARAGRAPHS 


Editorials, Commandments and Beatitudes 


WILLIAM L. STIDGER, pb.. 


By WILLIAM L. STIDGER 





PULPIT PRAYERS AND PARAGRAPHS 
Editorials, Commandments and Beatitudes 
BUILDING UP THE MID-WEEK SERVICE ~~ 
BUILDING SERMONS WITH SYMPHONIC ~-—~ 

THEMES 
FINDING GOD IN BOOKS — 
THAT GOD'S HOUSE MAY BE FILLED 
HENRY FORD: THE MAN AND HIS 
MOTIVES 
ADVENTURES IN HUMANITY 
THE PLACE OF BOOKS IN THE LIFE 
WE LIVE 
THERE ARE SERMONS IN BOOKS ae 
FLASHLIGHTS FROM THE SEVEN SEAS 
STANDING ROOM ONLY — 
SYMPHONIC SERMONS N 


New York: GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 


/ 
“PULPIT PRAYERS AND 
PARAGRAPHS 


Editorials, Commandments and Beatitudes 


BY/ Wi 
WILLIAM L*STIDGER, D.D\. 





GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 


COPYRIGHT, 1926, 
BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 


PULPIT PRAYERS AND PARAGRAPHS 
ST eae 
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA © 


DEDICATED TO 


DR. ELLWOOD ROWSEY 
PASTOR OF WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN 
CHURCH, TOLEDO, OHIO 


A FRIEND WITH 
“THE UNDERSTANDING HEART” 


“t 
7 


ee. 


: = 
Jim ae ie 





WHAT RHYME OR REASON HAS 
THIS BOOK? 


Answer: both rhyme and reason! 

Our churches do not link up with life. 

The connection is missed in so many perti- 
nent places. 

The Pulpit Prayer ought always to link it- 
self with human life. The prayers in this little 
book leapt hot from the heart of the preacher. 
They were either taken down by a stenographer 
or copied after they were prayed. They will 
illustrate what I mean by linking the church 
and the church services with life. 

There is a section of this book devoted to 
what I[ call “Beatitudes of the Beautiful.” 
They have served two purposes: They have 
directed the attention of my congregations to 
the beautiful in Nature; to new revelations of 
God in Nature; and they have also directed the 
attention of my hearers anew to the beautiful 
Beatitudes themselves. 

The third section is a series of what I call 
“New Ten Commandments.” This was origi- 


Vii 


vii What Reason Has This Book? 


nally an attempt to re-interpret the Ten Com- 
mandments in terms of the living problems of 
the day. It was an effort to lift life up in the 
light of spiritual and Biblical truth. These 
“Ten Commandments” flashed all over the 
United States through the Associated Press, 
the United Press, the Universal Service, and 
other news associations. They seemed to catch 
fre atonce. The first week after the Ten Com- 
mandments for the Church in Its Attitude To- 
ward Youth was issued, I had more than a 
hundred letters from college presidents, teach- 
ers, social workers, parents, students, and 
young people themselves, from Boston to San 
Francisco. J have never had an experience like 
this. The response was continued for weeks 
after the commandments were issued. 

The fourth section is a series of what I call 
Pulpit Editorials. The Pulpit Editorial is a 
scheme for commenting on civic affairs and 
matters of news-note and human interest, with- 
out interjecting them into the sermon. 

If the Pulpit Editorial is kept within the 
limits of one page; if it is carefully written, 
and contains scientific and social facts which 
indicate that the writer is reading and think- 


a ieipeginds 


ees wee 


What Reason Has This Book? ix 


ing; it may be turned into a popular and a 
forceful part of a Sunday evening service. 

It is a method of conveying new truth, which 
a preacher is continually gleaning in his read- 
ing, and does not get a chance to hand on in 
his sermons. 

It is also a chance to link the pulpit and the 
church up with human life without obtruding 
it into the sermon. I have found the medium 
of the Pulpit Editorial something better than 
a vehicle for discussing local political affairs. 
It is a vehicle to convey truth; to keep one’s 
congregations up on new discoveries, new 
books, and new thinking. 

One great Editor said: “I would write 
shorter editorials, but I haven’t time.”’ 

This entire book, from beginning to end, is 
an illustration, I hope; and a demonstration, 
that real thought, and real truth can be boiled 
down into brief space. 

Either read in the pulpit, or issued each week 
in the Church Bulletin, these Pulpit Prayers, 
“New Ten Commandments,” “Beatitudes of the 
Beautiful,” and Pulpit Editorials, are an added 
attraction and a popular appeal for any church 
or any church service. 





CONTENTS 


BOOK I 


Putpir Prayers AND DEvVoTIONS 


We Thank Thee for the Sound of ene 
mg Feet at Springtime 


Our Lives Are as eae as a Cloudy Dey 
in April . 


Dear Lord, We're Coming Home This 
Month 


When Winter Came We Thought T hee 
Gone 


We Thank Thee nee the Snow That Hides 
All Scars . 

We Scanned the Hen This Night for Thy 
Star . 

Our Boats Are So Small and Thy Ocean Is 
So Wide! 

Dear God, Be Thou on Shy! . 


For the Moonlight We Bow Our Hearts in 
Gratitude 


For Thy Gardens, God, We Are Ever 
Grateful . 


yh 


PAGE 


19 


20 


22 


2.4. 


26 


27 


28 
29 


30 


32 


Xi Contents 

To the God of Golden Sunsets We Lift 
Our Eyes 

For Thorns We Revenue Proile Thee! 

For Crimson Flowers We Offer Thanks 

O God! Shine on Our Cold Hearts This 
Day! 

A Prayer of Thanks re Blue Shies 


We Thank Thee That We Know It Isw’t 
Raining Rain To-day 


Thou Hast Crowned Our ons with a 
Golden Crown 


Dear God of Miracles! 


“Ts This the Loving Thing to Do?” May 
We Ask, Dear God! 


A Prayer of Grace Before a Men’ S Vida 
Where We Look, Thou Art There 

Stand Thou Out in Our Lives, Lord! 
Weve Lonesome, Lord! 

Dear God, We Go to School to Thee! 


We're Cold, Lord God! Let Us Apasele 
Up to Thy Warm Heart! 


For Tears We Are Grateful, God of Toes 
and Life and Laughter! . 


For Bread, Beauty and Breton ee We 
Praise Thee! 


Dear God of Tramps and Ouest 


PAGE 


33 
34 
36 


37 
38 


nbs 
4I 
42 


43 
44 
45 
46 - 
47 
47 


49 
51 
52 
53 


Contents X11 


Dear God, We Are Thy Flutes to Play! . 55 
We Thank Thee That Thou Hast Filled 


Our Lives with Color! . 56 
For Trumpet Sounds We Lis Ou 

Thanks! . 57 
For Bells That ice We Sing Ou Grati- 

tude! 58 
Dear Lord of Tos. We Thank Thee for 

Sweet Sounds! 60 
For the Ancient and Boudin Thing We 

Thank Thee, God! . 62 

BOOK IIT 
BEATITUDES OF THE BEAUTIFUL 

Pee beanie ofthe Birds 3 Ne OF 
The Beatitude of the Plains. MRE LOT 
The Beatitude of the Fields. CO Oe 
Beatitudes of the Gardens of God. nO 
The Beatitude of Flowers . Ag £2, 
The Beatitude of the Twilights . ETT 
Blessed Are the Waterfalls! ER ty po 
A Beatitude of Trees . , ; TR Rig P 
Blessed Are the Great Rocks! . Pahing 
Blessed Are the Sand Dunes! . ! abd, 


Waerneatiude of the Lakes 3.4) Ne GS 


X1V Contents 


PAGE 


A Beatitude of the Sun LAIR ND a ee 

A Beatitude of the Skies . er tae yA, | 

The Beatitude of the Seas . Rio hr 7); 

A Beatitude for Mothers V7 ae 
BOOK Ill 


A Series oF New “TEN CoMMANDMENTS” 


For the Church of at) in Its Relations 


with Youth. 83 
For the Youth of To-day . ML 
Ten Commandments for Preachers. . Roe) 
Ten Commandments for “Drys? _ . ARMAS 
Ten Commandments for T his Generation in 

Its Attitude Toward Mothers. . . 99 

BOOK IV 


Puvpit Epitroriats WuHicH LINK THE CHURCH 
witH Human LIFE 


Ideas and Ideals . ; . 103 
A Dutch Janitor . 1 OTOE 
Those Fools for Facts . ah tid ae) 8 
Conduct and Calories . eae 


Bombardments of Electrons . Regs Yd 


Contents 


Atmosphere 

Milk Bottles and Monotony 
Eagles and Oysters 

Eager to Ennoble Life 
The Art of Conversation 
Brains and Beauty 
Priming the Pump 

Bumps and Blessings . 


What Are the Oldest ieee Thing on 
Earth? 


Constructive ee 

“None of the Coolidges Ever Went West” 
Chance—and the Coolidge Career 
The Leap of Life 

Variety Is the Spice of Life 

The Wizardry of Water 

No Such Thing as a Perfect Man 
Vestiges 

Tithing 

Parades 

The Woe of Weight 

How Long Will We Live? 
Carriers on Life’s Sea . 

Whence Came Our Inventions? . 
Pin-headed Pre-Historics 


XV 
PAGE 


II5 
118 
121 
£23 
126 
129 
131 
134 


136 
137 
139 
141 
143 
145 
147 
149 


ISI 


152 
155 
157 


159 


160 
162 
164 


XV1 Contents 


It’s Barefoot Time Now, Boys and Girls . 


The Most Sensitive Plant on Earth . 
The Miracle of Motherhood 

It?s Kite-flymg Time . . 
Boys Are Playing Marbles Now . 

Sea Captains Are Silent 

“Race or Nation” 
Workers, Fighters, Rulers . 

Golf and Poetry . 
Religious Rip Van Winkles 


Out of What You Have in mee Mike 


Music, Friend! 


“Would I Might Rouse the Lincoln i in You 


All!” 


What Will Live Longer Than a Marble 


Temple? . 
“They Who Most Impute a 1 F De, 


“And Lincoln Was the Lord of His 


Event! 
Debt and Doubt . 


A Little Way We Have Here in ae 


Ready to Hail True Leaders 

Five Characteristics of True Greatness 
The Ancient and Beautiful Things 
Were Not So Much After All! . 


Boox I 


PULPIT PRAYERS AND 
DEVOTIONS 





WE THANK THEE FOR THE SOUND OF 
TRAMPING FEET AT SPRING TIME 


Dear God, on this Spring Sabbath morning 
we hear the far-off sound of tramping caravans 
and we thank Thee for that sound. 

Nearer and nearer these glorious and glow- 
ing days we hear that vast army coming. 

It is not an army of destruction and hate, but 
an advancing army of beauty and life and love. 

This dawn we hear the sound of the tramp- 
ing caravans of flowers and growing grass on 
ten thousand hillsides and in ten thousand fields. 
We hear trumpet-flowers blowing their bugle 
notes of advance, summoning the army of 
Spring tomarch. We hear the singing of nest- 
ing birds from afar, and the sound of baby 
birds pecking at their shells for sweet release 
to wing and wind. We hear the sound of 
robins singing love-notes, and the sound of 
mother bobolinks at building time. And then, 
dear God of all this beauty and wonder, we 


hear the peeping of little birds at twilight. 
19 


20 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


In the far skies we hear the caravans from 
the Southland; Thy Southlands and Thy. cara- 
vans of song and beauty; guided by thee on un- 
erring trails. 

We hear the tramp of ten braueand streams, 
running full to their banks, bound for the seas 
and the skies. We hear the streams of sap and 
the beating tides of blossoming seas, rushing 
pellmell upon us over night. 

We hear the tramping of the mighty winds 
and the sound of ten billion little feet of apple 
blossoms hurrying to their rendezvous. 

It is all glorious to hear and feel and see and 
know, before it comes upon us; this marching, 
marching army of Spring; this Children’s 
Crusade from Thy Holy Land and to Thy Holy 
Land of Love. 

Dear God, we thank Thee for the sound of 
tramping feet at Springtime. Amen! 


Our Lives ARE AS FITFUL AS A CLOUDY 
Day IN APRIL 


Dear Lord of our Lives as fitful as a cloudy 
day in April, we bless Thee that Thou art con- 
stant. 


Pulpit Prayers and Devotions 21 


This day in which we here worship is fitful. 
Now the skies are covered with black clouds. 
In an hour there is sunshing. The day is fit- 
ful like human life. 

To-day we are happy and smiling, and to- 
morrow we are tragedy-stricken and our skies 
are black, and there is no light. To-day we 
have our little children and our loved ones in 
our arms; and to-morrow our arms are as 
empty as a last year’snest. To-day we are rich 
and to-morrow we are poor as an unloved child. 
To-day we are green with spring, and beautiful 
with blossom; to-morrow we are as stricken 
and wan as an extinct crater. 

Life is like that. It is as fitful as an April day 
of clouds and showers and sunshine. Now it is 
dark, and now it is bright with laughter and 
love. | 

But we thank Thee that Thou art constant; 
that Thou art stable; and that there is no fit- 
fulness in Thee. We thank Thee that Thy 
Church in which we worship is constant, and 
stable, and confidence-breeding ; and that its at- 
mosphere brings poise and peace and prophetic 
power to our souls. We thank Thee that ina 
life which is fitful and uncertain, there is “Jesus 


22 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


Christ, the Same Yesterday, To-day, and For- 
ever,” and that ‘““From everlasting to everlast- 
ing Thou art God.” | 

It is good to think also, dear God, that Thy 
Bible has stood through the changing and the 
fitful years unchanged and unharmed amid all 
of the fitful moods of men about it and with it. 
It gives us a sense of security and certainty to 
know that in a fitful world and among fitful 
men, and ina life that is as fitful as an April 
day, Thy Book, and Thy Son, and Thy Church 
and Thyself are sure, steady, everlasting, 
changeless. Blessings on Thee—and accept our 
shouted thanks for that. Amen! 


Dear Lorp, WE'RE Cominc Home THis 
MontTH 


Dear Lord of Love and Fatherhood and 
Brotherhood: 

We're coming home this month, for it is 
Thanksgiving Time; Home-Coming Time. 

The leaves have fallen to the ground; the 
crimson and golden glory has gone from the 
hills of home, but home is always beautiful 
whether it is Spring, or Summer, or Fall, or 


Pulpit Prayers and Devotions 23 


Winter. Home is always beautiful to go to, for 
waiting there with glad eyes and welcoming 
arms, and warm lips, are Mother—Father— 
Sister—Brother—memories golden—relaxa- 
tion—friends—neighbors—home—and the lit- 
tle old church where God is. That is what com- 
ing home means these days. 

We're going home from college at Thanks- 
giving time, Lord; we’re going home to the little 
town from the big city; we’re going from the 
clang of street-cars to the call of the cattle on 
the farm; we’re going home from steam-radia- 
tors to big, friendly, open fireplaces where 
hickory logs crackle and burn. We're going 
home from banquets to food, and to love. 

It’s a glorious month, Lord God of Father- 
hood and Brotherhood, because this November 
is Home-going month, and those of us who can- 
not go home want to go. 

And whether we get home to the old village 
or not, Lord, we’re coming home to Thee this 
Home-coming month; this Memory-month of 
November. 


“We’re coming home, Lord, coming home; 
Never more to roam; 


24 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


Open wide Thine arms of love— 
Lord, we’re coming home!” 


We’re coming home to Thy Church and to 
the altars of Thy Church; we’re coming home 
as little children come, with a shout on our lips, 
and laughter in our souls; Lord God, we’re com- 
ing home. Doyouhear? We're coming Home 
Again! Home to Thee! Home! Home! 
Home! Amen! 


WHEN WINTER CAME WE THOUGHT 
THEE GONE 


When Winter came we thought Thee gone 
forever from us, dear God of our needs! 

We looked upon the earth and it was bare. 
We looked to the trees and they were leafless, 
save for a scattered leaf here and there, lonely 
as a lone bird ina Winter sky. We looked for 
flowers, and there were none anywhere, for 
they had all died. We looked for violets and 
buttercups, and the earth could offer us naught 
but memories and sighs. 

Dear God, it’s a lonely world in Winter time. 
The trees are so bare, and the fields are so 


Pulpit Prayers and Devotions 25 


cheerless, and the river is so naked. Art Thou 
gone forever? Wilt Thou never come back to 
us? Hast Thou forgotten us entirely? 

And the answer comes across the Winter 
fields from Thee; across the lonely ice-bound 
rivers; across the dead fields; across the empty 
nests of birds: “Remember the Resurrection 
Time! The seeds will burst again after a while, 
and violets will dot the land and dandelions will 
scatter star-dust everywhere again; and grass 
will grow. Iam not gone. I have not forgot- 
ten thee. I am at work getting ready for the 
Resurrection of Spring. I love thee still!” 

That is Thy word, dear Lord, these barren 
days, and that word heartens our souls and we 
smile again, and we take new lease on life, and 
we leap with laughter in our souls and shout 
the glad news to all humanity that Thou dost 
still love us like a Father and that Thou art 
just away preparing the surprise of Spring for 
us; preparing the glorious event of the Resur- 
rection. Amen! Amen! Amen! 


26 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


We THANK THEE FOR THE SNOW THAT 
Hipes Att SCARS 


Dear God, the snow has covered every field 
and fence, and tree and trail, and heart and 
home, and love and life this Winter’s Sabbath 
morning. 

Thy world is beautiful to us this day. 

Every tree is a Christmas tree, although 
Christmas has long since passed us by. It is 
snowy, blustering March, but the world is full 
of glorious Christmas trees this morning. 
Every branch and; limb is immaculate with 
beauty. We awoke to a Fairyland this day, 
Thy Fairyland of love and light. 

The muddy roads and the dead and desolate 
winter fields are cured of all their ills this 
morning. Thy snow has hidden every scar and 
every ugly spot on all the earth. 

Like the tides that sweep in from the sea to 
cover every ugly mudhole and to fill every crev- 
ice, so thy tides of snow have come in during 
the night to hide every ugly spot and to cover 
every scar on the earth. 

So may Thy love to us this day make us 
immaculate. So may Thy love crown every 


Pulpit Prayers’ and Devotions 27 


life with light, and make every heart a happy 
Christmas tree. So may Thy love cover every 
scar in our poor, lonely, devastated lives. 

It is dark and gloomy this day overhead, and 
the clouds are gray with desolation, but it is 
beautiful on the earth. The white snow is a 
symbol of Thy white lifeand Thy white Christ; 
Thy white promises and Thy white cross. 
Thou hast not forgotten us, dear Lord, and 
Thou hast made our world beautiful to-day. 

And we thank Thee for that! Amen! 


WE ScANNED Tuy SKIES THis NIGHT 
FoR Tuy STAR 


Dear God of Goodness and Greatness and 
Golden Gates of sunset skies, we have been 
thinking Christmas thoughts so much of late 
that to-night when we came to church we 
scanned Thy skies for the star that shone o’er 
Bethlehem of Judea. And, suddenly, as we 
looked—we saw the star. There it was, shin- 
ing against the horizon to the East leading the 
way to Thy House. It was the lighted Cross 
shining on this church of Thine, and through 
our eyes, misty and blurred with tears of love, 


28 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


we thought that the Cross was Thy Star of 
Bethlehem. A Star at one end of Thy life and 
a Cross at the other end: Oh, Lord, how glo- 
rious! And the star leads to the Cross. Oh, 
Lord, how great a thought! And the Cross 
leads to the dawning and to the time when the 
Morning Stars of Eternal Day sing together. 
Dear God, we have seen Thy star and have 
come to Thee this night in Thy house to wor- 
ship Thee. Hear our prayer. Amen. 


Our Boats ARE SO SMALL AND THY 
OcEAN Is So WIpE! 


God of the sea and skies, as the peasant 
fishermen of Brittany say when they go out to 
fish: “Keep me, my God; my boat is so small 
and Thy ocean is so large,” so do we pray this 
night: “Keep us, O God; our boats are so small 
and Thy seas are so wide and so many.” 

We feel Thy greatness all around us and we 
are so frail and so needy. We stumble where 
we go. Our sails catch but a brief breath of 
Thy great winds and we travel so slowly to- 
ward Thee when we would that we traveled as 


Pulpit Prayers and Devotions 29 


fast as a flying comet burning its way through 
the skies. 

O God, in the face of Thy great tasks, we 
are so small, and our feeble efforts so seem- 
ingly useless. Help us, O God, Thy challenges 
ate so tremendous and our talents are so tiny. 
Strengthen us, O God, Thy people are so many 
and we are but a band of a few; hold Thou our 
hands. O God, Thy visions are so like the 
noonday sun that they blind us. Hold Thou 
Thy hand before our eyes! O God, Thou seem- 
est so mighty; come Thou near to us this night 
and love us, and let us feel the touch of Thy 
hand like a Father’s. “Keep us, O God; our 
boats are so small and Thy seas are so wide.” 
Amen! 


DeEAR Gop, BE THou Our Sky 


Dear God of all goodness, be Thou our sky! 
Let us fly like a bird to Thee. Let us find our 
warmth and light in the sun of that everlasting 
love about which Thy Book speaks. Let us 
find the light to our pathway in the light of 
Thy countenance which shineth brighter than 
the noonday. Let us find our refreshing 


30 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


showers in the clouds of Thy compassion like 
tears that fall upon us. Dear God of all good- 
ness, be Thou our morning stars that sing to- 
gether and make beautiful our journeying be- 
fore the dawn. O God, be Thou our sky, and 
when night comes into our skies, shower Thy 
love like a million stars to light the night; and 
be Thou our dawn at last upon some fairer 
shore. Dear God of all Goodness and all Great- 
ness, be Thou our sky, so that when we die we 
may find illimitable heights in which to wing 
our flights of spiritual searchings. Amen. 


For THE MoonLicHT WE Bow Our 
HEARTS IN GRATITUDE 


O Thou Lord of the Moonlight night, we 
bring reverent and grateful hearts! We thank 
Thee for the moonlight falling through trees 
with shafts of golden glory, lighting up the dark 
places of the forest of life’s night! 

We thank Thee for moonlit paths across all 
the waters of the world which lead us up to 
glory! 

We thank Thee for moonlight on castle walls 
and for the poet who sang: 


Pulpit Prayers and Devotions 31 


“He who would see fair Melrose aright 
Must see it by the pale moonlight.” 


We thank Thee for memories of moonlight 
on lake, river, sea, ruins, mountains and valleys. 

We thank Thee for lovers who have walked 
moonlit ways through all the years of time from 
Youth to Age; for all words of poetry inspired 
by the mystic wizardry of the moon! 

We thank Thee for all the dreams that Poets, 
Prophets, Painters, have dreamed when the 
magic wand of a moonlit night has been waved 
over their waiting, wistful spirits by Creation’s 
God! 

We thank Thee for memories of golden 
moonlit ways—for the moon that shone on far 
Judea and Galilee; on Sinai and Olivet; on 
Eden’s Garden and Gethsemane! 

O Thou God of moonlit nights and golden 
dreams and paths that lead to star-strewn ways, 
we lift our songs of prayer this vesper hour! 
Amen. 


32 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


For Tuy GarpEeNns, Gop, WE ARE EVER 
GRATEFUL 


Dear God of the world’s gardens! 

We are ever grateful to Thee! 

Thanks be to Thee for the modesty of the 
violet, and may it teach us humility like unto 
that of Thy son Christ—Thy most beauteous 
flower in Thy garden of the world and all 
worlds! 

Thanks be to Thee for the smiling faces of 
Thy pansies and may they teach us to be ever 
full of laughter; teach us to smile through 
rain and storm and tears; through day and 
dark—and ever cheerful be, as they! 

Thanks be to Thee for Thy great, towering 
sunflower in Thy gardens, God, and may it 
teach us to reach up and out in spiritual 
growth; ever lured to higher hopes and heavy- 
ens by Thy Son, until we too, grow tall and 
stately through reaching out for Thine other 
and glorious Son of righteousness! 

Thanks be to Thee for Thy flaming red rose 
and may it teach us that to bleed in crimson 
streams for brotherhood brings to the human 
soul Beauty Eternal! 


Pulpit Prayers and Devotions 33 


Thanks be to Thee for the old-fashioned 
gardens our mothers made so long ago, with a 
wild maze of color; dahlias, peonies, gladiolli, 
morning-glories, hollyhocks ; more humble flow- 
ers of life, for such must we who pray to Thee 
forever be! 

Thanks be to Thee that Thou art the Gar- 
dener in the Gardens of Life, and we have 
found Thee there in tenderness and care, prun- 
ing, plucking, praising, praying, as Thou didst 
pray in the Garden of Gethsemane, and water 
with Thy blood and tears all Gardens of God! 
Amen. 


To THE Gop oF GOLDEN SUNSETS WE 
Lirt Our EYEs 


Dear God of Golden Sunsets, we lift our eyes 
to Thee and thank Thee for Thine artistry 
this evening time in sunset skies! 

We have watched Thee at work on Thy sky- 
canvas with “Brushes of Comet’s Hair,” and 
stars to light Thee by; with real Saints to draw 
from—Magdalene, Peter and Paul. 

Teach us that we too, may have real Saints 
to draw from; that we also may “splash at a 


34 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


ten-league canvas;’ that we too “may work for 
an Age at a sitting and never grow tired at 
all.”’ 

We thank Thee for Thy golden Poppies, 
symbol of Thy gifts of beauty to us; for golden 
erain, symbol of Thy care for our material 
needs; Thou who dost “give us this day our 
daily bread; for the golden metals that Thou 
hast hidden away in the haunting hills. 

For golden thoughts and the opportunity for 
golden deeds; for golden crowns of spiritual 
conquests which we may wear forever with 
Thee in Thy Kingdom, we thank Thee! Amen. 


For THorns WE REVERENTLY PRAISE 
THEE 


For thorns we praise Thee through our 
tears, dear God! 

For thorns we thank Thee, Christ of the suf- 
fering soul and body. 

For long nights of ceaseless vigils beside sick 
children and loved ones; for disappointments 
and failures over which we triumphed, and 
through which we reached the stars, our lips 
are singing with that ancient phrase, “Per 


Pulpit Prayers and Devotions 35 


Aspera ad Astra’—through difficulty to the 
stars. 

We thank Thee for thorns of heartaches, 
and loss, and loneliness. 

We thank Thee for thorns, because Thine 
ancient prophets knew them, and “Blessed are 
they who wear a crown of them for my sake, 
for so persecuted they the prophets which were 
before thee,” we hear Thee say. 

And we thank Thee for thorns, because Thy 
servant Paul bore a thorn in his soul—and we 
know not what it was—and we do not care. It 
is enough to know that he carried a thorn such 
as we have known; and such as Thy Son, our 
Christ, knew on Calvary’s Cross. 

We thank Thee for thorns because Thy dis- 
ciples knew them and suffered and died, and be- 
cause Thine early Church was sustained by 
men who bore their crowns of thorns. 

Through Thine own suffering we have 
learned that every thorn may have a rose 
blooming by its side, because through Thy 
magic the most biting, bitter thorns of loneli- 
ness, suffering, disease, defeat, and death, may 
weave themselves into a crown of flowers for- 
ever! Amen. 


36 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


For CrIMSON FLOWERS WE OFFER 
THANKS 


Dear God of crimson flowers, we offer 
thanks! 

Dear, blessed Gardener of the World, we 
thank Thee for Thy crimson flowers! For the 
flame of the forest, for the pent-up light of the 
blazing sun sent down to earth in tree and leaf 
and petulant petal, we shout our joy aloud this 
summer day. 

For the geranium with its treasury of fire; 
the flower that flares its crimson flag along the 
hedge; for the passionate red rose, its velvet 
lips, its hot breath of love; for the crimson 
blossoms of the sunset at vesper time and at 
dawning; for the blood-red poppy of France, 
the symbol of sacrifice; for the bleeding beauty 
of the crimson wounds of our Christ on Cal- 
vary; for these blessed crimson flowers of love 
and sacrifice we thank Thee, and pray Thee that 
we may learn to wear them all upon the white 
garments of pure souls forever and for aye! 
Amen. 


Pulpit Prayers and Devotions 37 


O Gop, SHINE ON Our CoLtp HEarts 
Tuis Day 


Dear God of Light, shine on our cold hearts 
this day! | 

The trees are covered with ice, as are some 
of our lives. Winter blasts have frozen our 
souls. 

But Thy sun has shone across the world this 
Sabbath morning, and the trees glisten and 
shine like gleaming stars. The ice on the tree 
glistens and melts under the warmth of the sun, 
pouring its eternal rays across the landscape. 

So, God, shine on our cold hearts this day 
and make them sparkle with beauty. Melt our 
souls to tears and laughter and love. Shine on 
us and we shall no longer look coldly upon a 
human being, but shall be melted to sympathy 
for all mankind. 

Shine on us, Thou Sun of Everlasting Love, 
and we shall glow with a new glory, and we 
shall glisten with gladness, and we shall leap 
with light. Amen. 


38 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


A PRAYER OF THANKS FOR BLUE SKIES 


Dear God of the blue skies! 

We thank Thee for the color blue! 

We thank Thee for bluebells growing above 
the snow-line of the Alps, and for bluebells 
erowing “Beside the still waters” of the valley ; 
the one teaching us courage and the other 
teaching us a beautiful peace. 

We thank Thee for the blue waters of Tahoe 
and Capri, which teach us depth of soul and 
friendship and love; deeps unsounded and sure. 

For blue eyes of love—the blue eyes of a 
father, a brother, a sister, a mother; husband, 
wite, child, sweetheart: 


“For all the good I know 
Was taught me out of two blue eyes 
A long time.ago.”’ 


And for blue Galilee, and the Christ who 
walked beside its peace and beauty to love and 
live; and dying, lift us up to blue skies—we 
raise grateful souls. Amen. 


Pulpit Prayers and Devotions 39 


We THANK THEE THAT WE Know It 
Isn’T RAINING RAIN To-DAY 


Dear God of the dark skies: 

Thou art God of the dark skies as well as the 
God of the blue skies and we thank Thee for 
that, and it gives us comfort. 

When Thy skies are blue and bright with 
sunshine, they are beautiful to us, for we know 
that Thou dost have a good reason for having 
them blue and bright and beautiful. And when 
they are grey and dark, and Thou hast hung a 
curtain of clouds over them, then we know also 
that that also is well, for Thou art good and 
eracious. 

Besides, dear God, we remember that one of 
Thy poets hath told us that 


“Tt isn’t raining rain to-day, 
It’s raining daffodils.” 


And then, for fear we would not be com- 
pletely comforted, that poet sang another verse 
and said: 


“Tt isn’t raining rain to-day, 
It’s raining violets.” 


40 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


Then our own thoughts ran like slanting rain, 
falling through the night, and it came to us, 
Lord, like one of Thy sweet miracles, that it 
isn’t raining rain to-day, this rainy Sabbath, 
this dark gray Sabbath, this dismal Sabbath; 
but that it is raining green carpets of beautiful 
grass on a thousand hillsides and fields; that it 
is raining apple blossoms, and peach bloom; and 
cherry red, and lilac lavender, and bluebells and 
buttercups and red poppies, and lovely lupins, 
and Shasta lilies, and grain, and corn, and 
plenty; because of Thy love and Thy care for 
us. Thou hast thought of us, and the rain is 
singing its testimony that Thou hast thought 
of us in field and on hill and hillock. Thou 
hast thought to fill the world with food for us 
through the rain; Thou hast thought to fill the 
orchards with fruit for us; and Thou hast 
thought to fill the fields with flowers for us. 


Gracious God, good God, we thank Thee that 


“Tt isn’t raining rain to-day, 
It’s raining violets.” 


Amen. So mote it be! 


Pulpit Prayers and Devotions 41 


THou Hast CrowNeEp Our Day WITH 
A GOLDEN CROWN 


Dear God of Daylight dying: 

Thou hast brought our day to a glorious, 
golden coronation. 

In Thy west a crown of gold has been set 
upon the brow of this day and Thou hast by 
this token acknowledged this day that it has 
been well; that it has pleased thee, that it is 
Thine and Divine! 

If it had been a wicked day or an unkind 
day or a day of lovelessness Thou wouldst not 
have crowned it with the golden crown of 
Thine approval. Thy hand hath put upon the 
western skies and hills the golden scepter of 
Thy love and laughter. 

So God, we pray Thee that this night Thou 
mayest be able to crown all of our days with 
golden crowns of glory. May we so live that 
when each day has come to sunset, and evening 
shadows hover over our homes and our lives, 
Thou mayest have the feeling in Thy heart that 
we have done well our tasks; that we have 
lived so gloriously our days that Thou mayest 
honestly crown them with gold. 


42 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


And so may we live our lives on the whole, 
stumbling now and then, mayhap, as befits poor 
human weakness; falling at times, but ever with 
our eyes lifted to Thy skies; ever hopeful, ever 
prayerful; ever true, climbing onward and up- 
ward to the horizons; to see at last the day of 
our little lives crowned with gold as Thou hast 
crowned this very day with the gold of sunset’s 
splendor. Amen and amen! 


DEAR Gop oF MIRACLES 


Dear God of Springtime ; God of Moses; God 
of annual Miracles; we thank Thee for the 
Burning Bushes of Life that we see these 
spring days. We thank Thee for the Burning 
Bush against the mountain side by the Cheat 
River, that we saw from the train window to- 
day. We thank Thee for the Burning Bush 
of a robin’s breast; the Burning Bush of a 
Baltimore oriole, and a cardinal. 

We thank Thee for the Burning Bush of 
Love that is in our souls; love that feels the 
throb of a new awakening these Spring days 
when sap-streams run through our souls 
mounting upward to leaf and bud and fruit. 


Pulpit Prayers and Devotions 43 


We thank Thee for the bushes of white fire; 
for the dogwood trees against the green moun- 
tain sides these days; the bridal wreaths, that 
early flame of white purity which makes beau- 
tiful the world. We thank Thee for these first 
white flames of purity and love in Springtime. 

But most of all do we thank Thee for the 
white and crimson flame of Christ and His 
Cross that lights the world’s pathways of night 
into God’s presence. Amen and amen! 


Sis it THE, LOVING LHING TO;DO0?”? 
May We Ask, DEAR Gop 


Dear God of love, when we test each deed 
of human life the coming week, may we ask 
this one question: “Is it the loving thing to 
dor” 

When anger flushes our cheeks and brows, 
may we stop and ask, “Is this the loving thing 
to do?” 

When doubt assails our souls and we pon- 
der perplexed as to some action, some deed, 
some way of going or doing, may we test our 
purpose by asking our souls: “‘What: is the 
loving thing to dor” 


44 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


When a business problem confronts us, may 
we take it into the secret places of our minds 
and hearts and ask: “What is the loving thing 
to do? Will it hurt a single human being if I 
make this deal? Will any little children suffer, 
will any hearts be broken, will any tragedies 
follow in its wake? What is the loving thing 
to dor” 

This day, this week, this winter, all of this 
life may we, as Christian people, test our every 
act, our every dream, our every contact with 
other human beings in this poor world with this 
ereat phrase: “Is it the loving thing to do?” 
Amet.. 


A PRAYER OF GRACE BEFORE A MEN’S 
MEETING 


Dear Comrade Christ, we have a place here 
for Thee at this banquet table, a chair reserved, 
and a place in our hearts also. Come and sit 
with us, and sup with us. “Break Thou the 
Bread of Life” for us, and press to our lips the 
wine of Thy overflowing presence. Hallow this 
place with Thy vigorous and Thy tender love, 
and may we know and feel Thee near in all we 


Pulpit Prayers and Devotions 45 


say, and think, and dream. Sit with us, serve 
with us, partake with us, live with us, and love 
us, world without end. Amen, amen. 


WuoereE WE Look TuHou Art THERE 


Dear loving Master of the far away and the 
near at hand, we love Thee and we know that 
Thou dost love us overmuch! We have just 
been singing that old beautiful hymn: 


“T look away across the sea 
Where mansions are prepared for me.” 


We all have the far-away look in our eyes. 
The hunger for immortality is in our hearts. 
Weare lonely for some of our loved ones who 
have gone before us. We have a wistful look 
in our eyes and our hearts to-night, as we peer 
out across the seas and beyond the stars. 

Some day, dear God, it shall be said of us 
that we, too, like dear Bishop Luccock, have 
gone where we looked. And when we go where 
we have for so long been looking and longing 
and wistfully loving, we know that we shall not 
only find those who have gone before; but, 


46 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


bless God, we shall find Thee, the Christ. 
Amen. ‘ 


STtaND THou OvuT IN Our Lives, Lorp! 


Dear Lord of Love, stand Thou out in our 
lives like the silhouette of a lonely tree against 
a crimson sunset. Stand Thou out in our lives 
like a mountain peak against a sky of gold. 
Stand Thou out in our lives like a silver stream 
that streaks through a valley of orange trees. 
Oh, Lord of Love, stand Thou out in our lives 
like the Cross of Calvary. Be Thou the only 
God or gods we know and love. 

Let the gods of pleasure, selfishness, materi- 
alism and pride disappear in the mists of obliy- 
ion and stand Thou out like a burning light for- 
ever and for aye! Let the half-gods go, Lord 
of Love and Light; and remain Thou forever 
in our houses, our churches, our homes, our 
dreams, our hopes, our ambitions, our loves and 
lives! Dear Lord of love and light and laugh- 
ter, stand Thou out in our lives. Amen. 


Pulpit Prayers and Devotions 47 


WERE LONESOME, Lorp! 


Dear Lord of Love, we’re lonesome folks to- 
night. We're the lonesomest lads and lasses in 
the world. Weneed Thee. We’re as lonesome 
as children at night when father and mother 
are away. We're as lonesome as boys away at 
college the first Christmas, far from home. 
We're as lonesome as a girl whose lover is on 
the battlefields. 

We’re so lonesome, Lord; come Thou into 
our hearts and make us know that Thou art 
with us forever and a day. 

Thou art here, Lord! We feel Thee near. 
Thou art mother and father and brother and 
lover tous. Thou fillest our beings with Thy- 
self. Thou meetest our need. We are no 
longer lonesome, for Thou art come into our 
lives and we thank Thee this night that we 
who were so lonesome, the lonesomest folks in 
the world, are no longer lonesome. Amen. 


Dear Gop, WE Go To SCHOOL TO THEE! 


Dear God of Love: 
It is school-going time again. Our babies 


48 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


are grown up and we start them off to school, 
with clean faces and white dresses; with lone- 
liness and pride in our hearts. We watch them 
go gaily out the front doors of home, and know 
that they are no longer our babies. 

Our young people start off to High School 
and College, to catch their vision of wider ho- 
rizons; to meet new experiences, new dreams, 
and new people. They are crowding the trains 
these days, leaving home, over valley and hill, 
east and west, by millions, with thundering feet, 
going to school again. 

It is a glorious time, this school-going time, 
and it thrills our souls with adventure, dream, 
and vision. 

So God, we who are older grown would go 
to school to Thee. We would have Thee teach 
us patience, vision and love. We would have 
Thee hold our baby hands in Thine and teach 
us to lisp the A. B. C.’s of life. We would have 
Thee point us to Thy stars and teach us Thy 
Heavenly arithmetic. We would have Thee 
fly to the “uttermost parts of the earth’ and 
teach us Thy Divine geography in that sub- 
lime sentence, “Go ye into all the world.” — 
Through Thy missions, teach us Thy geogra- 


Pulpit Prayers and Devotions 49 


phy. We would go to school to Thee and learn 
to write. We would watch Thy handwriting 
on the walls of Time; on canyon walls where 
glacial pens have left their record, on volcanic 
valleys where Thou hast left a message; on 
mountain peak where Thou hast written of Thy 
beauty and Thy love for us. 

Dear God, we would learn love from Thy 
Christ who died for us. We would go to school 
to Him also—and to John and Matthew, and 
Mark and Paul, and Isaiah, and Hosea, and 
Jeremiah; and Martha and Mary and all the 
millions who have learned Thy way, and who 
have gone on to the Better Land with illumi- 
nated faces and glowing eyes and staunch 
hearts. We would go to school to Thee, O God 
of Love!, Amen. 


WERE CoLp, Lorp Gop! Let Us SNUGGLE 
uP TO THy Warm HEart! 


Dear God of Warmth: 

We've been cold—bitterly cold. Our houses 
are cold and our automobiles are cold, and the 
world is cold—and some of our hearts are cold. 

We would snuggle up to Thee as a kitten 


50 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


snuggles up to its mother, as a child snuggles 
close to its father on a long ride to get warm. 

We have been out on the long, long trail, and 
the winds have blown through us, chill and 
drear. Night has fallen and found us far from 
home—blizzards and winds and rains have 
chilled us—and we need the warmth of Thy 
love to heat our blood. 

The cold winds of pessimism, and criticism, 
and unkindness, have blown about us, Lord, 
and we arecold. We want to warm our hearts 
at Thine altars of burning fire. | 

The frosts of doubt have assailed the tender 
green-growing dreams of our souls, and we 
would gently bring them in and put them close 
to the fires of Thy heart and warm them. 

The hailstones of gossip have assailed the 
petals of our reputations and our visions, and 
have left them in shreds, but we bring them all 
to Thee and we know that under the kindly 
light of Thy warming love, they will grow 
again into something beautiful and fruitful. 

Weare cold, Lord, and we would snuggle up 
to Thine altars to warm our hearts and to light 
the fires of our spiritual lives again this blessed 
Sabbath evening. Amen. 


Pulpit Prayers and Devotions 51 


For TEARS WE ARE GRATEFUL, GOD OF 
LovE AND LIFE AND LAUGHTER 


Dear God of tears, we read in Thy Immortal 
Book that Rachel wept for her children, for 
they were not. 

We read that Jesus wept over Jerusalem; 
wept for its sins, its lust, its indifference, its 
ignorance, its darkness. 

We read that Mary wept with joy over her 
Son; and that that other Mary, Mary Magda- 
lene, wept over her sins. 

So, dear God of tears, we pray Thee to break 
our hearts and make us weep over our sins, for 
they are many; our sins of social cruelty, our 
sins of indifference to humanity, to the Church,, 
and to Thee. 

Oh, dear God, break our hearts and loose 
the fountains of tears that we may not dry up 
in our souls, and our souls become hard and un- 
kind. Stir in us the tears of sympathy for a 
sick child and a sick world. Awaken our souls, 
if need be, through suffering and tears! 

Tears! Tears! Tears! Tears of laughter, 
loneliness and love! Tears that sweep us back 
to Childhood! Tears that loose the suppressed 


52 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


emotions and give us Freedom! ‘Tears that re- 
lease our souls! Tears of joy and tears of 
sorrow! Tears of Triumph and Truth that stir 
our hearts! Tears that rush like mountain tor- 
rents and wash our souls clean! O Thou God 
of tears; Thou Son of Man of whom it was 
said: “Jesus wept!” 

Thou Christ of tears, through our weeping 
we claim kinship with Thee in Thy Kingdom 
Citizenship forever! Amen. 


For Breap, BEAUTY, AND BROTHERHOOD 
WE Praise THEE! 


We thank Thee, God, for Bread, Beauty and 
Brotherhood! 

Thou hast given us all of these in abundance, 
throughout human life. 

Bless those who do not have all of this trilogy 
to make human life complete; and teach us to 
share each gift—each of these three great gifts 
—these gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh 
—with others. 

We glorify Thee that Thou hast given us, as 
Thou didst come to do, an “abundant life” of 
daily bread; light and heat of home to shelter 


Pulpit Prayers and Devotions 53 


us from rain and snow and blustering winds 
that blow allwheres. 

We glorify Thee that Thou hast given us 
beauty of hill and tree; of lake and sea; of star 
and flower; of haven and bower; that Thou 
hast allowed our) human eyes to look upon 
beauty of sculpture, beauty of human form and 
face, these Divine altars of human grace. But 
most of all, we thank Thee for beauty of human 
thought and the heavenly fragrance of the 
flowering of a baby’s soul. 

We glorify Thee, dear God, for Brother- 
hood; that Thou hast given us Brotherhood 
Houses and Churches of Comradeship over all 
the lonely earth; that in home, and church, and 
lodge, there is “Peace among men of good will,” 
through Christ, forever and forever. Amen. 


DEAR GoD OF TRAMPS AND OUTCASTS 


Dear God, I am a tramp and an outcast this 
night, with broken shoes, and torn clothes, and 
a wearied body—shivering in the winter blasts, 
begging from door to door for material food; 
and at last aware that what I need, more than 
all else, is spiritual food. Therefore this win- 


54 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


ter night I have knocked at the door of Thy 
house; of this church, of this place of worship; 
this sanctuary of rest and peace. I have 
knocked at Thy door because I heard music and 
saw light pouring out, and it promised warmth 
within. 

I have come, Lord Jesus, to claim Thy 
warmth, Thy spiritual food, Thy music, Thy 
peace, Thy sanctuary, Thy haven, Thy City of 
Refuge this night. I have come to warm my 
heart at Thy blessed hearthfires burning on 
these altars. Lonely, forsaken, ill-clothed, 
shivering, broken on the wheel of life—I come, 
I come. And I come, knowing that Thou hast 
said that whosoever comes and seeks, he shall 
find; and whosoever knocks, it shall be opened 
unto him. So come we all of us, Lord Jesus, 
come like the outcasts we are; lonely, despised, 
misunderstood, forsaken, all of us, not an ex- 
ception in this great crowd of rich and poor; all 
of-us outcasts; shivering, lonely ; knowing that 
we need Thee. Take us in; keep us; hold us 
to Thy heart; bless us; love us! Amen! 


Pulpit Prayers and Devotions 55 


Dear Gop, WE ArE Tuy FLuTeEs to Piay 


Dear God, we hear Thy heavenly flutes this 
evening as well as this earthly flute the musi- 
cian plays for us. Thou art the great world 
flutist. Thou art also a great maker as well 
as player of beautiful flutes. Thou hast made 
a flute of the bamboo trees; Thou hast made 
a flute of the great canyons and then Thou hast 
brought a storm along to play that flute, or a 
soft evening wind. Some of us have heard 
Thee play the flutes of the canyons and we shall 
never forget that great, stirring music. Thou 
hast made flutes of bird-throats through which 
pour heavenly music at dawn and twilight. 
The skies are Thy flutes and the wind amid the 
stars plays Divine music—a music that the 
Psalmist heard and said: “And the morning 
stars sang together.” 

Play upon us as flutes of love, dear God, 
Thou Heavenly and Eternal Musician. We 
open ourselves to Thee. There are no obstruct- 
ing sins. No stop is clogged this night. Thy 
breath breathed through us will find immediate 
response. Thy lips touched to us will find 
warmth and love come back to Thee. We want 


56 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


to be the perfectly attuned instruments to an- 
swer the touch of Thy lips and Thy breath. 

Breathe Thou upon us and through us this 
night. Touch Thou us with Thy Divine lips 
and play sweet music through us. We open our 
hearts to Thee with complete abandonment. 
We vibrate to Thee. Wewarmto Thee. Thou 
wilt not find us cold. Play Thou upon us, Thou 
Great Heavenly Flutist! Amen. 


We THANK THEE THaTt THou HAST 
FILLED Our LIVES WITH COLOR 


We thank Thee, Lord, for the tapestry of a 
hundred hues on the hillsides of Fall these days. 
We thank Thee, that as we ride along the coun- 
try ways we find Thy reds, and golds, and yel- 
lows, and browns, and purple patches splashed 
everywhere. We thank Thee that the hillsides 
of Fall are like rich Oriental tapestries. We 
thank Thee for the crimson beauty and 


“The glory that the wood receives 
At sunset in its brazen leaves.” 


But most of all this night, at this prayer time, 
we thank Thee, Lord, that Thou hast put color 


Pulpit Prayers and Devotions 57 


into our lives. There is nothing dull and dead 
in our lives since Thou hast come into our 
hearts. Thou hast painted life as rich as a Fall 
hillside. Thou hast filled our hearts with light 
and laughter and love. Thou hast come, and 
since Thou hast come, Life is beautiful with 
color. Amen. 


For TRUMPET SouNDS WE SHOUT OUR 
THANKS! 


Dear Trumpeter of the Skies and Souls, we 
thank Thee! 

We thank Thee for Thy bugle notes, “for 
trumpet sounds from the hid battlements of 
Eternity.” 

For the awakening trumpet notes of dawn- 
ing; the shouting winds that sweep the canyon 
deeps of life to rouse our souls from sleep, we 
thank Thee! 

We thank Thee for Thy trumpets which 
sing: “Arise ye! Arise ye, and get ye up unto 
Mount Zion!’ 

For the call to new doing, new living, and 
new spiritual achievements we thank Thee! 

For trumpet sounds that bid us up and on the 


58 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


march for God and a more righteous world; for 
social justice; the march of missions far and 
wide; we lift singing souls! 

For trumpet sounds that arouse us from our 
lethargy of soul; our listless living; trumpet 
sounds that shake us awake and make us alert 
to love and life and living God’s way, we thank 
Thee with abounding gratitude this day. 

For trumpet sounds that make us know that 
“Like a mighty army moves the Church of 
God!” 

For trumpet sounds that urge us to the up- 
ward climb to God, though that climb lead to the 
hill called Calvary, and the sound of “Taps” 
and a Grand Amen! 


For Betts THat RING WE Sinc Our 
GRATITUDE 


Dear God of bells that ring we shout our 
Hallelujahs. 

For memories of church bells across the hills 
and homes of long ago we lift loving thanks. 

Their voices call us even to-day and their 
beauty haunts us and bids us to worship Thee 
this holy hour. 


Pulpit Prayers and Devotions 59 


We thank Thee for the “Angelus” of Millet 
and the listening peasants in the fields of 
France; for their holy pause for prayer amid 
the meadows of the earth, while their eyes and 
their souls arose to look upon the meadows of 
the skies, run riot with stars. 

We thank Thee for the bells that call to 
school and the upward climb to intellectual 
peaks of new visions, new dreams, new worlds! 

We thank Thee for wedding bells, Thou who 
in the first miracle at Cana of Galilee didst 
hear them ring. We thank Thee for wedding 
days and home and children and love that 
abides by hearth-fires which these bells fore- 
tell. 

For bluebells and lilies deep with the dews 
of Heaven, fit cups with which to baptize little 
children. 

For bells that echo amidst the mountains of 
Switzerland and all lands to call our wander- 
ing, wistful souls to worship Thee, we thank 
Thee God! Amen! 


60 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


DeEaR Lorp oF LovE, WE THANK THEE 
FOR SWEET SOUNDS 


We have just sung “How sweet the name of 
Jesus sounds in a believer’s ears,’’ dear God, 
and we thank Thee for that poet because he 
expressed our feelings about the sound of that 
dear name in our ears and in our hearts. 

And for all sweet sounds we thank Thee, 
Lord of Love and Laughter. 

We thank Thee for the gift of laughter. It 
is a beautiful sound to our ears which have 
grown lonely for Youth and romance. We 
thank Thee for the sound of laughter every- 
where in the world: for light frivolous laughter 
of Youth; for hearty, full-grown and full- 
blown laughter of manhood. We thank Thee 
for the quiet laughter of happy hearts about 
a hearth-fire, and for the laughter of love and 
and lovers. We thank Thee for the laughter, 
the quiet and beautiful laughter of a mother as 
she bends over her new babe at her breast. 

And we thank Thee for the sound of a little 
baby; for its crying, for its cooing, for its 
laughter, for its breathing. Lord God we thank 
Thee for all sweet sounds. 


Pulpit Prayers and Devotions 61 


We thank Thee for the sound of the winds 
in the trees, and for the sound of water under 
a bridge of snow. We thank Thee for the 
sound of surf and for the soughing of the 
winds in the canyons. We thank Thee for the 
sound of birds singing; for the Meadowlark, 
for the Bobolink, for the Song Sparrow, for 
the Whippoorwill, for the Nightingale, for 
the Thrush and Thrasher, for the Lark that 
soars and sings, for the Cardinal and Oriole. 

We thank Thee for the sound of a full-run- 
ning stream and for the full-flowing tides gur- 
eling into every crevice; and for the music of 
an inrushing tide. 

We thank Thee for the human voice singing. 
We thank Thee for the memories of our 
mother’s voices singing the old Hymns! sing- 
ing us to sleep. We thank Thee for the sound 
of the old hymns any time and anywhere. We 
thank Thee for the Jenny Linds and the Marion 
Talleys, and for all those who have dedicated 
their voices to God. 

But most of all we thank Thee for the 
thought expressed in the beautiful hymn, “How 
sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer’s 
ears!” to-night. Amen. 


62 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


For THE ANCIENT AND BEAUTIFUL 
Tuincs WE THANK THEE, Gop 


Dear God, we offer thanks for “The ancient 
and beautiful things” of life. 

We thank Thee for the Michael Angelos, and 
their Davids, their Dawns and Twilights; and 
for that magnificent “Moses” carved from liy- 
ing white marble. 

We thank Thee for that living fire of grace 
and beauty we call “Venus de Milo,” and for 
that flaming, leaping, living “Victory of Samo- 
thrace.”’ 

For Leonardo’s “Last Supper,” and Raph- 
ael’s “Sistine Madonna” and for all Madon- 
nas, and for all “Mona Lisa’s’” and for the 
“Transfiguration” and for “The Last Judg- 
ment,” and for all beautiful and human Hoff- 
mann’s Christ pictures; and for Watts and his 
“Behold I stand at the door and knock;” and 
for “Hope,” and all the wistful ways of a 
Watts; for “The ancient and beautiful things” 
we thank Thee. 

And for all of the ancient and beautiful 
hymns, Folk-songs, Carols, and Spirituals, we 
offer praise this night. 


Pulpit Prayers and Devotions 63 


For the music of a “Break, Break, Break on 
Thy cold gray stones, O Sea,” and for the 
mystic melody of a “Sunset and the Evening 
Star”; for a “Divine Comedy” and a “Paradise 
Regained” ; for an “In Memoriam,” and for the 
wistful dream of “The little birds flew east 
and the little birds flew west,” and for the 
ancient and beautiful things of poetry, drama, 
and fiction. 

For the ruins of ancient beauties; for the 
Parthenon, for the Acropolis, for ancient 
Thebes, for the Pyramids; for the Cathedral’s 
splendor, and for all dreams of the past which 
make architectural dreams of to-day seem 
like fitful, puny things, we offer grateful hearts! 

For the ancient and beautiful dreams of 
man’s hope for and growth in God; for tradi- 
tion, worship, and prayer; for our Mother’s 
God and our Mother’s prayers, for - our 
Mother’s Bible and our Mother’s religion; for 
“the ancient and beautiful things” of human 
life we thank Thee, God. Amen. 


yy, ir! 


T) 


er. cae ie ? (ei iy ee, 
Peedi ait 3 He ade Tee F ik 





id TV 
AAD 


Boox II 


BEATITUDES OF THE 
BEAUTIFUL 





Tue BEATITUDE OF THE BIRDS 


Blessed are the birds that soar 

For they shall remind us of Him who 

Said that “The birds of the air have nests 

And the foxes have holes, but the Son of Man 

Hath not where to lay his head.” 

Blessed are the birds that soar, for they 

Shall lift the thoughts of men upward; 

Upward to the mountain-peaks and white 
clouds; 

Upward to the blue skies, upward to the shin- 
ing stars; 

Upward to higher thoughts of the All High 
God! 

Blessed are the birds that soar! 


THE BEATITUDE OF THE PLAINS 


Blessed are the plains 

For they shall lure us to the limitless ; 

They are symbols of the sweeping stretch 

Of love and all the “Wideness of God’s mercy,” 
Blessed are the sea-plains, and the sky-plains; 
The prairies, and the high plateaus of plenty 
For these are the places of God. 

Blessed are the afterglows 

Of sunsets across the reaching plains 


For they are the Boner of Faith; 
6 


68 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


Blessed are the dawns across the plains, 

The starlit nights, the noons and moons; 

The tawny flowers of the Sun, the Gopher 

Herds like happy children of the Earth; 

The sun-burned men and children too; 

With far, wide dreamings in their souls. 

Blessed are the plains 

For they are the symbols of God’s “Promised 
Land.” 

They are the Plains of Plenty 

And they lead us gently to the Uplands 

And to the Plains of Heaven and Home. 


A BEATITUDE OF THE FIELDS 


Blessed are the fields 

For they are the Mothers of flowers 

And they have communion with the “Still 
waters.” 

Blessed are the fields 

For they are the symbols of the “Abundant 
Life” 

Which Jesus came to bring to earth; 

The fields through which He walked, and loved, 
and lived. 

Blessed are the green fields and running brooks; 

Fields of waving wheat, where shadows pass 

And the wind-waves sweep in rhythmic ripple. 

Blessed are the fields of France 

Where crimson poppies add their glow and 
elory 

To the memories of sacrifice and blood 


Beatitudes of the Beautiful 69 


Heroic men poured out not long ago. 

Blessed are the fields 

Where cattle browse at noonday 

Under the shadow of spreading trees 

For they are the symbols of silence and peace. 

Blessed are the fields where trails of boyhood 
led 

Through winding ways to happier days 

And pools of peace on summer afternoons. 

Blessed are the fields 

Where men fare forth to sow their seed 

In springtime, to wait in confidence 

Till God fulfills the Promise of the Earth; 

Blessed are the fields, 

For they-are the Flowering of Faith. 


BEATITUDE OF THE GARDENS OF GoD 


Blessed are the Gardens of God; 

The Garden of God-consciousness, fair Eden; 

The Garden of the Promises Fulfilled, the 
Promised Land; 

The Garden of Romantic Love enthroned, the 
Songs of Solomon; 

The Garden of Tragedy and Triumph, Gethse- 
mane, 

And the Garden of Vision and Victory on Pat- 
mos Peak. 

Blessed are the Flower Gardens, the stately 
rows of corn; 

Blessed are the Gardens that supply us Food 
and Flowers; 


70 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


Blessed are the Gardens of Faith, the Bible 
Books; 

Blessed are the Gardens of Love in every home 

Where little children bloom to bless the Earth; 

Blessed are the Gardens of God we call the 
Churches, 

For here is fertile soil wherein the flowers 

Of Love and Faith and Truth may spring to 
birth; 

Blessed are the Gardens of God 

For they are symbols of Peace, Plenty and 
Purity. 


THE BEATITUDE OF FLOWERS 


Blessed are the flowers, 

For they are the Flowers of Faith; 

Blessed are the Violets, Pansies, Daisies; 

Blessed are the Daffodils and Dandelions 

For they are the Democracy and Aristocracy 
of Nature; 

Blessed is “The incense-breath of Mignonette”’ 

The crimson beauty of the royal Rose; 

The stately loveliness of the Lily’s lips; 

Blessed is the Arbutus, the Lilac, the lowly 
Bluebell ; 

Blessed is the Sunflower, warm and friendly; 

In its Faith it turns its face to all the God it 
knows—the Sun. 

And so may we too, learn from flowers 

To varie faces in our Faith, like flowers, to 

od. 


Beatitudes of the Beautiful 71 


THE BEATITUDE OF TWILIGHTS 


Blessed are the twilights, 

For they shall be called the Children of Prayer; 

And they shall lead us to the altars of worship; 

They shall induce us by their subtle charm 

To bow our heads in reverence. 

Blessed are the twilights, 

The Arizona afterglow, the Alpine glow, 

The far light of Sierran peaks, the Vesper 
Hour, 

The Angelus, the Call to Prayer. 

Blessed are the twilights, 

The golden twilights, 

The twilights of crimson, salmon, pink and 
purple; 

Blessed are the roses in the sky at evening. 

Blessed are the twilights, 

For they bring the evening bell, the home-fires 
burning across the lea, 

The open arms of wife and little children; 

‘The dove that homeward flies to be at rest; 

The Hope, and Faith, and Love of lighted win- 
dows; 

The hour of rest and looking unto God. 

Blessed are the twilights on the mountain tops; 

Across the rivers and the seas; 

Blessed are the twilights and sunsets of the 
north, 

The south, the east, the west; but most of all, 

Blessed are the twilights of Home, 


72 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


Those which can be seen from our own windows 

Across the tops of city roofs; 

Blessed are the twilights, for they suggest 
Prayer! 


BLESSED ARE THE WATERFALLS 


Blessed are the waterfalls 

For they suggest the gifts of God and the “Life 
Abundant,” 

Blessed are the waterfalls, for they bring the 
melting snows 

From the mountain peaks, white and pure. 

Blessed are the waterfalls, for they suggest 

The tumbling, tumultous power of the Unseen 
and Afar! 

Blessed are the waterfalls, for they speak to us 

Of “Showers of mercy never ceasing” 

And of the God of blue skies and high heights ; 

The God of white reaches and clean heart! 

Blessed are the waterfalls! 


A BEATITUDE OF TREES 


Blessed are the trees, 

Some of which were sturdy giants before 
Christ was born. 

Blessed are the trees of the earth, 

The Sequoias, the Redwoods, the Cedars of 
Lebanon; i 

The Cypress, the “Olive trees that were kind to 
Him ;” 


Beatitudes of the Beautiful 73 


The Pine—the trees that give us fruit and 
shelter 

From the heat of noonday; the trees that 

Gave us nests in which to build when boyhood 
days 

Were in their sun-kissed morning. 

Blessed are the trees of the Bible, 

The Fig tree, the Cypress, the Cedar, 

The “Tree of Life’ which bringeth forth its 
fruit 

In its season, the leaf of which shall not wither ; 

Which beareth twelve manner of fruits 

Which are for the healing of the nations. 

Blessed are the trees; 

For they teach us how to pray. 

They teach us staunchness of character 

And how to bear the beating storms of life, 

And how to make our lives bring forth much 
fruit; 

Blessed are the trees, for they shall 

Teach us to lift our eyes upward to God! 


BLESSED ARE THE GREAT Rocks 


Blessed are the great rocks and bowlders 
For they shall remind us of Michael Angelo’s 


And of myriad granite dreams of sculptured 
beauty ; 

And they shall put into our souls “The hint of 
eternity!” 

Blessed are the great rocks and bowlders, 


74 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


For they shall teach us courage, strength—and 
to stand! 

Blessed are the rocks of the seashore and of the 
mountains; 

The El Capitans, the Pyramid Peaks and the 
Shastas; 

Blessed are the domes and minarets; 

Blessed are the storied strata 

Twisted by the fires of Mother Earth; 

The strata that tell the story of the past; 

Blessed are the glacial tablets which we call the 
granite peaks. 

Blessed are the rocks of the Bible, for we have 
been told 

That in their shadows we shall find rest; 

That they shall be to us a God of shelter from 
“the stormy blast” 

Or “like a great rock in a weary land.” 

Blessed are the rocks, for they are like 

The Rock of Gibraltar which we call “The 
Book ;” 

Blessed are the great rocks and bowlders! 


BLESSED ARE THE SAND DUNES 


Blessed are the Sand Dunes 

For they run to meet the sea with eagerness 

And they have iron in their veins and warmth 
in their hearts; 

Blessed are the sand dunes, for they are white 
and clean 


Beatitudes of the Beautiful 75 


Because they have been washed by the sea and 
dried by the sun. 

Blessed are the sand dunes, for they teach us 
to run 

To meet our God with a great eagerness 

And they teach us to keep our souls washed 
white 

For that meeting. 


THe BEATITUDE OF THE LAKES 


Blessed are the beautiful lakes; 

The Hurons, the Chautauquas, the Winonas, 

The Michigans, the Georges, the Tahoes; 

The Ontarios, the Scargoes, the Pyramids; 

The Lake Superiors, the Lake Eries! 

Blessed are the lakes, for they mirror the moun- 
tains 

And teach us that we too may mirror that 
which is 

Higher than we; the God of Love and Good- 
ness; 

That we may mirror Him to all the world 

In all of His Beauty; just as the lake 

Mirrors all the white clouds and the snow- 
crowned peaks. 

So may we reflect Thee and Thine. 

Blessed are the lakes, for they feed the valleys 

And give birth to the rivers and brooks 

And at last find their way to the great sea. 

Blessed are the lakes, for they teach us that 
we too 


76 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


May find our wandering’ way to the great 
Father-Heart! 


A BEATITUDE OF THE SUN 


Blessed is the glowing Sun 

For it is the Mother of all energy 

And Father of the flaming power 

That turns the wheels of Time 

And breeds the spawn of all the furnaces 

Of Earth, and kindles all the beauty 

Burning forth in flower, and leaf, and love. 

Blessed is the Sun, for it is Life 

And Health, and Hope, and Happiness 

For every groping thing that grows on earth! 

The tree, the sea, the cloud, the bird; 

Each little child that comes to breath 

Gets ozone strength and sustenance; 

The “‘little flower in the crannied wall” 

The mighty monster of the briny deep; 

Leviathan and Lily, both alike are bred 

By this same Father, O Majestic Sun, 

Thou symbol of the God of Truth and Love! 

Blessed art Thou, O Majestic Sun 

Of all the things of earth and sky; 

Of all material things that live and die; 

For thou shalt teach us all to love the more 

The Sun of Righteousness, the God of Truth 

Who gave to thee, aye, even unto thee, thy 

Far-flung birth, thy life and energy, and sus- 
tenance! 

Blessed is the glowing sun 


Beatitudes of the Beautiful 77 


Whose shadows are the sunsets and the dawns 
Which splash in crimson beauty 
On the canvas of the sky. 


A BEATITUDE OF THE SKIES 


Blessed is the sky 

Which arches over all the earth 

With Love and Laughter in its arms; 

Which gives a planet-pathway 

To the wandering stars and suns. 

Blessed is the sky 

Wherein the dews of dawn are born 

Wherein the energy of earth is bred; 

Wherein the clouds of kindliness are spawned, 

And all the Hope of Heaven and Humankind 

Is symbolized in Sun, and Star, and Peak of 
Phophecy. 

Blessed are the arching skies 

For they are symbol of the circling arms of 
God; 

The room and reach of all religious truth; 

The hope of every star-aspiring soul; 

Blessed are the skies! 


THE BEATITUDE OF THE SEAS 


Blessed are the seas 

The Arctics, the Atlantics, the Pacifics; 
Blessed is the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, 
The Red Sea, and the deeps thereof ; 
Blessed is the sea, for it is symbol of the 


78 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


Width and depth of all God’s love for human- 
kind. 

“‘There’s a wideness in God’s mercy 

Like the wideness of the sea.” 

Blessed is the sea, for it is Mother of the rains 

And rivers; the comrade of the sun and sky; 

The symbol of all human life; 

Its storms, its restlessness, its peace. 

Blessed is the Sea of Galilee 

Beside which Jesus walked and taught; 

Upon whose breast He stilled the waves; 

Beside whose waters He, in love and light 

His Parables of Truth and Beauty taught 

To all the world; from whence he chose 

His fisherfolk to lead the world to God. 

Blessed are the Seas! 


A BEATITUDE FOR MOTHERS 


Blessed are all the mothers of the world, the 
Chinese, the Japanese, the Korean, the African, 
the Oriental, the Occidental; the black, the 
white, the yellow and the brown. Mothers of 
all the earth, for they shall be called the Daugh- 
ters of God. 

Blessed are the mothers of yesterday, for 
their memories shall be called beautiful and 
beneficent. They are like flowers growing by 
sunken gardens and beside still waters and in 


Beatitudes of the Beautiful 79 


green fields, for they are like soft winds that 
blow with peace and love on wistful wings. 

Blessed are the mothers of to-day, for they) 
have the keeping of to-morrow in their hands 
and in their hearts; and the destiny of nations, 
hearts and homes. 

Blessed are the mothers of to-morrow, for 
they have been summoned to a great and a 
heroic hour. For they shall be called the 
mothers of men, who shall make miracles of 
human life. The mothers of to-morrow shall 
breed a race of giants who handle lightning 
as a little thing, and make the clouds and thun- 
ders obey their wills. Blessed are the mothers 
of to-morrow. 

Blessed are the mothers of scientists and 
statesmen; of laborers and poets; of preachers 
and prophets; of teachers and dreamers; for 
dreams and visions and prophecies and the glow 
and glory of creation is born in the hearts of 
mothers. 

Blessed are the mothers, for they are the 
conservers of the human race. Blessed are the 
mothers, for they forced the nomadic tribes 
‘to settle in a permanent community in order 
that the young might be served and saved. 


80 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


Blessed are the mothers, for they taught bar- 
barian ancestors to grow grains and build shel- 
ters. Blessed are the mothers of the world, 
for they have conserved the spiritual things 
of life for the sake of their children. 

Blessed are the mothers of the earth, for 
they have combined the practical and the spir- 
itual into one workable way of human life. 
| They have darned little stockings, mended little 
dresses, washed little faces, and have pointed 
little eyes to the stars, and little souls to Eter- 
nal things. Blessed are the mothers, for they 
have inspired the poet to sing: 


“Q) Mother, when I think of thee, 
‘Tis but a step to Calvary.” 


Boox III 


A SERIES OF NEW “TEN 
COMMANDMENTS” 





A New “TEN CoMMANDMENTS” FOR THE 
CHURCH OF To-DAY IN ITs RELATIONS 
WITH YOUTH 


I 
Thou shalt not condemn and criticize, but 
thou shalt love and fraternize with Youth! 
II 
Thou shalt not stifle and shackle, but thou 
shalt ennoble and inspire Youth! 
II] 
Thou shalt not denounce and deny, but thou 
shalt win and welcome Youth! 
ENV: 


Thou shalt not scold, but thou shalt stimulate 
Youth! 


V 


Thou shalt not crush the soul of Youth by 
ridiculing his ambition, by quenching his en- 
thusiasms, by suppressing his energies, by 

83 


84 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


sneering at his dreams simply because thou thy- 
self hath passed the period of dreaming! 


VI 


Thou shalt not attempt to bluff or bluster 
Youth! 

When cornered in an argument with Youth 
thou shalt not say, “Thou art too young to 
understand these profound things. They are 
too deep for thee. When thou art a Junior, or 
a Senior, or when thou art gray with years, 
Thou wilt understand all things!’ For in so 
saying thou foolest only thyself, and thou pro- 
vokest Youth to laughter. 


VII 


Thou shalt not assume that Youth is igno- 
rant! 

Nor shalt thou look upon Youth as having 
little to contribute to human life and progress, 
for thou must remember that the great revolu- 
tions, the great missionary movements, the 
ereat churches of the earth were dreamed, con- 
ceived and brought to birth by boys under 
thirty. And thou shalt remember that no in- 
stitution continues to prosper, business or 
otherwise, which does not take the present and 
the coming generation into its confidence. And 
thou shalt also remember that Jesus lived and 
died while still a Youth, and that he said to the 


New “Ten Commandments’ 85 


mothers of little children: “Of such is the 
Kingdom.” 


Vill 


Thou shalt not charge that Youth is more 
wicked to-day than in other generations. 

He is only more honest in his sins. What 
other generations did in secret he does openly. 
What another generation called “spooning” he 
may call “necking.” And about the same pro- 
portion of this generation indulges in this ‘“In- 
door Sport” as hath indulged in it in other gen- 
erations. 

He doeth in the automobile what another 
generation hath done in the buggy behind a 
horse; no more and no less. 

Every age hath said from its pulpits that 
“Youth goeth straight unto damnation and 
there is no hope!” Old books, old sermons, and 
old editorials about the sins of Youth cometh 
down even from the days of Adam unto this 
day. 


IX 


Thou shalt not speak negatives and negations 
at all hours unto Youth! 

Thou shalt make thine affirmations many 
and thy negatives few. 

Thou shalt challenge him to DO more often 
than thou shalt say unto him “DON’T?!” 


86 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


Thou shalt not say unto him: “Don’t dance, 
don’t go to theaters, don’t play pleasant games, 
don’t laugh aloud, and don’t shout with exuber- 
ance!” 

On the contrary, thou shalt be glad for his 
joy, his play, and his abandonment to the spirit 
of happiness; and thou shalt provide a 
place for his social and his recreational life. 
Aye, thou shalt provide him a place in which to 
meet his boy and his girl friends. Thou shalt 
be glad that love is made within thy walls, and 
bethrothals consummated; and glad for all that 
leadeth up thereto. For of such is the King- 
dom of Life and Love. 


Xx 


And verily thou shalt remember that all 
Youth is not “Flaming Youth!’ 

Thou shalt not expect Youth to be sedate and 
dignified, for neither of these are cardinal vir- 
tues and the world hath suffered much already 
from these false standards. Verily they have 
no virtue in them. 

Thou shalt remember that Youth itself does 
not accept the phrase “Flaming Youth” as an 
apt designation of its spirit. Rather it might 
be called an inquiring, a questioning, a challeng- 
ing Youth. Also, thou shalt remember that one 
swallow doth not make a summer; and that 
though there be alive a small group of Lounge 
Lizards, of Flask-carrying Crusaders, of 


New “Ten Commandments’ 87 


Mama Dolls, of “Flaming Youth,” there also 
are those greater numbers of idealistic and 
reverent Youth. 

Thou shalt remember also that Youth by in- 
stinct and psychology loveth Good, and God, 
and Beauty, and all that is sacred and holy— 
In His Own Way. And if his way of wor- 
ship is not in thy traditional mold—remember, 
O Church of To-day—that it is God’s way, and 
that Youth and God are closer kin than Age 
and God; and that one Youth of long ago said 
unto Old Age: “Wist ye not that I must be 
about my Father’s business?” And He went 
about it IN HIS OWN WAY! 


A New “TEN COMMANDMENTS” FOR THE 
YoOuTH OF To-DAY 


I 


Verily thou shalt remember that sin is “old 
stuff”; a bad bargain, a reversal of all the up- 
ward processes of evolution. 

It requires no particular genius to sin, and 
in all the ages no new sins have been evolved. 

Sin hath no place in the program of a gen- 
eration which calleth a woman a “horse and 
buggy” who bobbeth not her hair; a generation 
which boasteth that it is unique, original, and 
hath broken with all ancient traditions to pro- 
duce new ways and new days. Verily shalt this 
generation remember that sin is “old stuff.” 


88 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


IT 


Thou shalt build no graven image of thyself 
to worship, O Youth, simply because thou 
standeth, by strange chance, where the world’s 
spotlights focus! 

Soil not thy soul by self-worship. 

Use thine hour on that vast stage of earth 
gloriously, or thou wilt hear thine exit cue, 
and another generation of Youth will take thy 
call and none will note thine absence. 

For Life is a jealous god and leaves no loaf- 
ers as leaders, nor will Life hearken long to the 
faith set forth by fakirs. 


Til 


Trust thyself and to thy highest dreams be 
true! 


IV 


Thou shalt not fake a faithlessness thou dost 
not truly feel! 


V 


Thou shalt not stifle those spiritual impulses 
of beauty, truth, idealism, reverence, love and 
God, which from all time have always flowered 
in Youth. 


New “Ten Commandments” 89 


VI 


Remember that thou art “on top of the 
world,” that the earth is thine and the fullness 
thereof, the world and all that dwell therein. 

To-morrow does not belong to thy parents 
which begat thee, nor to thy teachers who teach 
thee; but to thee alone, to the Youth of the 
earth; thou art omnipotent! Thou hast been 
given dominion over all things! 


Vil 


Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it happy 
—and not hectic! 

For this day was set aside for thee to rest 
thy body and thy soul. And these things shall 
rest thee: communion with thy loved ones, 
God’s hills and fields and skies and seas; great 
books and music; wholesome play to re-create 
thee, and God’s quiet sanctuaries where hymns 
are sung, prayers are said, and lamps of eter- 
nal love are lighted. 

Be thou not content with the Sabbath Day 
that leaves thee weary of body, mind and soul, 
for thou hast a right to richer rewards. 


VIII 


Honor thyself and keep thy body and thy 
bloodstream clean, that the days of thy children 
may be long and happy in the land which Je- 
hovah thy God hath given thee. 


90 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 
IX 


Honor thine elders, but blaze thine own 
trails, and follow thine own genius, for unto 
each new generation is given a new earth, a 
new need, and a new commandment. 


Xx 


Above all, remember that although thou des- 
piseth the appellation of “Flaming Youth,” that 
thou surely art the torchbearer from this gen- 
eration to another, and verily must thou hand 
on undimmed the light of truth, devotion and 
idealism—else it be lost in the night! 


A New “TEN COMMANDMENTS” FOR 
PREACHERS 


I 


Thou shalt not be afraid to have thy beliefs 
criticized and questioned for thereby thou be- 
trayest a lack of confidence in thy particular 
brand of truth if thou art afraid to have it criti- 
cally examined. 


II 


Thou shalt not allow thy soul to grow fat 
with much flattery! | 
Because thou art accustomed to pleasant 


New “Ten Commandments” Ql 


phrases spoken about thy sermons and thyself, 
thou shalt not think too highly of thy talents; 
nor shalt thou make a graven image of thyself, 
which thou shalt expect people to bow down 
and worship. 


Ill 


Thou shalt not become angry and red-faced 
because there are those who dare to differ with 
thee! 

Nay verily, thou shalt remember that “A 
soft answer turneth away wrath,” and in thy 
differences with other men thou shalt be kindly 
in thy rebuttals, for thou art the representative 
of Him who was called “The Prince of Peace.” 


IV 


Thou shalt be willing to ride in the jump seat 
thy share of the time and thou shalt be willing 
to take second place as the servant of all rather 
than always to be served. 

And thou shalt be willing to stand in line like 
other mortals for thy tickets to the ball game, 
and thou shalt not expect favors, railroad 
passes and discounts. 


V 


Thou shalt not always expect to be Sir Oracle 
when thou speakest, but thou shalt learn to lis- 
ten some of the time! 


92 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


For verily, though thine audience shall re- 
main silent when thou speakest in the pulpit, 
in private conversation thou mayest find that 
some men may answer thee back, much to thy 
consternation. And verily thou mayest find it 
true that others may have something to say. 
And thou shalt profit greatly, if perchance thou 
shalt listen. 


VI 


Thou shalt not be afraid of new truth to add 
to thine old truth, nor shalt thou be afraid to 
drop thine old truth if new revelations come. 

For truly God hath not revealed Himself in 
His fullness unto men, but He hath given unto 
us a continuous revelation through science, na- 
ture, and humanity. Aye, God hath given us 
a new Old Testament and a new New Testa- 
ment in modern days. And there is much truth 
yet to be revealed as rapidly as thou art capable 
of understanding it. 


Vil 


Thou shalt not hate thy brother minister be- 
cause he believeth not as thou dost believe; nor 
shalt thou condemn him as a “reed shaken by 
the wind” because he doeth the work of God 
differently from thee! 


New “Ten Commandments’ 93 


Vill 


Thou shalt not isolate thyself from human 
life! 

For verily did thy Master live and loaf with 
harlots, publicans and sinners. 


TX 


Thou shalt not be dogmatic and intolerant, 
but thou shalt respect the personality, the opin- 
ion, and the rights of others. 

And verily thou shalt not cast from thy 
church, thy love and thy fellowship, the adulter- 
ess, the thief, the failure, the rebel, for in so 
doing thou hast repudiated Jesus Christ. 


xX 


Above all, thou shalt be intellectually honest 
and thou shalt reveal and not conceal the truth 
which hath come to thee. 

Thou shalt not believe one thing and speak 
another thing unto thy people. Thou shalt read 
great books as well as the Great Book. For 
verily thou shalt not be able to feed if thou dost 
not read; nor to lead if thou dost not read; and 
thou suffereth the likelihood of finding thyself 
one of the “blind leaders of the blind.” And 
the last state of thy people shall be worse than 
the first. 


94 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


New TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR “Drys’” 


I 


Thou shalt not assume that all “‘wets” are 
morons, idiots, or fools! 

It is not proof conclusive that a man is a fool 
because he honestly disagrees with a “dry.” It 
is conceivable that thousands of honest work- 
ingmen, particularly those of European extrac- 
tion, believe that light wines and beers are as 
much an inherent right as water and coffee. It 
also seemeth to be a fact that some college presi- 
dents, teachers, preachers, and intellectuals feel 
that a modification of the Dry Law may be well. 


If 


Thou shalt not refuse to accept the facts 
about law enforcement, nor shalt thou refuse 
to admit that in certain great eastern cities and 
manufacturing sections it is a failure. 


Til 


Because thou art a “dry,” thou shalt not be 
an ostrich, hiding thy head in the dry sands of 
the desert and crying out “Peace, peace,” when 
there is no peace. 


New “Ten Commandments” 95 


IV 


Neither shalt thou allow thyself to be stam- 
peded by congressional investigations, wet pro- 
paganda, or wet and dry referendums, for thou 
shalt verily recognize all of these as the De- 
featist stage of the enemy, which at this stage 
in desperation attempteth the great bluff as a 
last resort. 


V 


Thou shalt not allow thyself to forget that 
the open saloon is gone, and that no longer do 
drunken men lurch in and out of the swinging 
doors; nor criminals plot in its rear rooms. In 
spite of Mr. Mencken’s pathetic plea for its re- 
turn, it seemeth that this strange mystic mourn- 
eth alone. 


VI 


Thou shalt also remember for thy comfort 
that America hath never betrayed that strange 
attribute of a crab, the desire to travel back- 
wards. America goeth forward. It will not 
repeal and it will not modify the prohibition 
laws. 


Vil 


Thou shalt not allow thine eyes to be hood- 
winked into believing that one who is a “wet” 


96 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


can be trusted to enforce a dry law. For thus 
cometh many of the failures in law enforce- 
ment, and many of the sneers against the Con- 
stitution of the United States of America. 


Vill 


And verily thou shalt remember that educa- 
tion is the great weapon of law enforcement. 

For thereby thou shalt grow up a generation 
which knoweth not the taste, the smell, or the 
sight of alcohol. 

Just as it was true that Education was the 
forerunner of the Messianic Prohibition Law, 
so shall Education be the forerunner of an era 
of law enforcement, until men shall forget the 
Dark Ages of Booze and Scofflaws. 


IX 


Thou shalt remember the story of slavery and 
prostitution in the United States, and take 
courage, 

Verily it hath been said of old that “human 
nature is human nature, and slavery and segre- 
gation will never die;” but to-day there existeth 
not a single segregated district in a great 
American city. Aye verily, hath the old Bar- 
bary Coast of San Francisco become a forgot- 
ten thing, and it hath faded into oblivion. It 
gathereth cobwebs and dust unto itself. 


New “Ten Commandments’ 97 


xX 


And verily thou shalt remember that no law 
is a law until it hath public opinion as its great- 
est friend. 

And thou the “dry” shalt not win public 
opinion by sneers, by misstatement of facts, by 
bluffing, by lobbies, by threats, either political 
or personal; but by Truth, Research, Educa- 
tion and Vigilance; by Faith and Fairness in 
thy dealings with thine enemies. 


New “TEN COMMANDMENTS” FoR THIS 
GENERATION IN Its ATTITUDE TOWARD 
MorHERS 


I 


Thou shalt not look upon thy mother as a 
trivial part of thy life, for verily it was she 
who gave unto thee her blood, and bone, and 
travail of birth. 


II 


Thou shalt learn to listen to thy mother’s 
counsel, for she hath gone over the highway of 
human life before thee and she hath learned its 
pitfalls, its perils, and its promises. 

Verily shalt thou be a wise daughter and a 
wise son if thou hast learned to love and listen 
to thy mother’s unprejudiced advice. 


98 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


Til 


Thou shalt not talk to thy mother, O Youth 
of to-day, in language that hath lost the touch 
of reverence, for verily when thou standest be- 
fore thy mother thou art on holy ground, and 
thou shalt take off thy shoes from thy feet, and 
thou shalt remember that she is the symbol of 
sacrifice and suffering. 


IV 


Thou shalt not scorn thy mother’s ways, her 
memories, her clothes, her worn hands, her 
wrinkled face, her tears, her prayers; for ver- 
ily hath she done all for thee; nor hath she 
lived with any other dream in her body or her 
soul than that thou shalt prosper and be happy 
in thy way. 


Vv 


Thou shalt take delight in the law of thy 
mother’s love, for verily that Youth who abid- 
eth by a mother’s law shall prosper, and he shall 
be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that 
bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf 
also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth 
shall prosper. 


New “Ten Commandments’ 99 


VI 


Thou shalt not forget thy mother when thou 
goest out into the world to make thine own way! 

For verily thou shalt remember that it was 
thy mother who bore thee, who fed thee at her 
breast, who cared for thee in thy days of help- 
lessness, who watched over thee in sickness, 
sorrow and suffering; who taught thee to walk 
and talk; who led thee forth into the promised 
land of thine own life, home and dreams. And 
on this Mother’s Day shalt thou remember to 
send her some kindly remembrance of thy love 
and of thy appreciation of her years of service 
to thee, and of her love and loyalty. 


Vil 


Thou shalt be tolerant with thy mother’s 
ways and days. If she painteth not her cheeks 
like unto thee, or if she faileth to understand 
why thou shouldst rouge thy lips, or why thou 
shouldst look upon life with different eyes, thou 
shalt remember still, that she is thy mother and 
that she liveth in a different day, but that she 
still loveth in the same old way. 


VIII 


Thou shalt be worthy of thy mother’s hopes 
for thee. 
When thou shalt face the temptation to be 


100 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


unworthy, to live uselessly, to take frivolity for 
thy faith, gold for thy god, play for thy para- 
dise, thou shalt remember thy mother’s hopes 
for thee; her faith in thee; her pride and her 
dreams for thee. And verily shalt thou remem- 
ber that her happiness shall forever live only in 
thine integrity. 


IX 


Thou shalt say often unto thy mother: “I 
love thee!’ 

For verily there is no loneliness like the lone- 
liness of a lack of love’s expression. And verily 
there is no happiness that cometh unto a mother 
so great as when a son or daughter hath learned 
the great lesson taught in that word of Holy 
Writ: “Thou shalt render unto Cesar that 
which is Czesar’s.” So verily shalt thou say 
unto thy mother: “I love thee, and thou hast 
given me great gifts, and my happiness and my 
success this day cometh from thee.” 


Xx 


Thou shalt be wise to abide in thy mother’s 
faith and to acknowledge thy mother’s God. 

For verily hath thy mother wrought her 
faith from suffering and living. Thou shalt 
abide in the shadow of thy mother’s Bible, thy 
mother’s prayers, thy mother’s church, thy 
mother’s God. 


Book IV 


PULPIT EDITORIALS WHICH LINK 
THE CHURCH WITH HUMAN LIFE 


P | ‘ F 
Ay! j if # : 
Mougks: jth: ¢ . i 





IDEAS AND IDEALS 


Victor Hugo says: “Stronger than armies 
is an idea whose hour has come!” 

An English writer recently said: “The ideal 
is the most potent factor in the determination 
of character and conduct, for the ideal alone is 
able to stimulate the will and so to harmonize 
and organize all of the instincts into one unity. 
The ideal is that, the attainment of which, pro- 
duces completeness and self-satisfaction.”’ 

Ideas are fine. In fact they are scarce. The 
man who has an idea is being sought after over 
all the world. He turns the wheels of com- 
merce. He turns the world up-side-down. 
Ideas are dynamite. 

Before Bishop William A. Quayle’s death one 
day he received a letter from his old comrade 
and Ecclesiastical friend, Bishop Wm. F. Mc- 
Dowell, of Washington, D. C. Bishop Mc- 
Dowell wrote and said: “I have found a new 
word.” Bishop Quayle, with his usual spirit 
of fun, wrote back and said: “Dear Willie, 


102 


104 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


don’t pay any attention to getting a new word. 
What you need is a new idea.” 

That’s what we all need. The world moves 
on the ball-bearing of ideas. 

But an ideal is greater than an idea, yea, 
than many fine ideas. For an ideal is that 
something which controls, and harnesses, and 
euides the destiny of an idea or of a thou- 
sand ideas. 

The worst criminals on earth are men with 
ideas and no ideals. 

Makers of wars, murders, profiteers, have 
ideas all right, but they do not have ideals. 

“Only a true ideal can lead us to the com- 
pleteness for which we human beings crave. 
Ideas are like pebbles which disturb the waves 
on the shore; IDEALS like the celestial body 
which dominates the tides!” says Dr. J. A. 
Hadfield in “Psychology and Morals.” 

An Ideal is like the great moon which domi- 
nates and directs and controls the tides. Ideas 
are like the pebbles on the shore, which merely 
make a tiny splash when those tides come 
sweeping in. Yet even ideas are few and far 
between. But ideas dominated by Ideals; these 


Pulpit Editorials 105 


are the forces that may move Heaven and 
earth. 


A DutcH JANITOR 


A Dutch Janitor was the first of the ‘“Mi- 
crobe Hunters.” His name was Anthony 
Leeuwenhoek, and he ground the first lenses 
that were ever ground. 

Squinting through his home-made lens, he 
discovered one day that there were little ani- 
mals in a drop of rain-water, and that they 
were swimming around like modern mermaids 
and Annette Kellermans. 

This Dutch Janitor, untrained and unlet- 
tered, was the first man to grind a lens strong 
enough to enable man to see microbes. He was 
the first man to discover that microbes actu- 
ally exist. 

He was a curious fellow, and in between 
sweeping out the city hall where he was the jan- 
itor, he experimented with drops of rain by 
washing out a wine glass very clean, drying it, 
and catching rain that had just fallen. He 
wanted to discover whether those little microbes 
were in the water when it fell from the sky, or 


106 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


whether they got into it after it fell and was 
exposed to the air. He proved that the mi- 
crobes did not come down from the sky. 

A third thing he discovered was that hot 
water would kill certain of these little animals. 

He was such a curious fellow that he experi- 
mented with everything. He discovered that 
his mouth was full of these little fellows by 
scraping his teeth and studying the result under 
his microscope. One morning he drank an un- 
usually hot cup of coffee, and then scraped his 
teeth, and much to his surprise, he discovered 
a greatly diminished number of these little fel- 
lows in the field of his lens, and those that were 
there acted as if they had been doped, or had 
been hit in the head with a club. 

He got a hunch that hot coffee had practi- 
cally ruined most of these little fellows. That 
was the dim beginnings of the discovery that 
sterilization will kill germs. And it came from 
an uneducated and unlettered janitor. 

The fact of the matter is that some of the 
most profound forward movements of history, 
some of the greatest discoveries of the scien- 
tific world, some of the greatest literature of 
all time, has come to us from those who have 


Pulpit Editorials 107 


not had a chance at a college training. And 
the greatest example of this is Lincoln. Lin- 
coln’s letters and literature are used in Oxford 
as the perfect illustrations of great writing. 


THOSE Foots For Facts 


Real scientists used to think that if you put 
a spider in a circle made up of ground uni- 
corn’s horn, that spider couldn’t crawl out. 
Then some doubter, some questioner, put a 
spider in a circle made of ground unicorn’s 
horn, and the fool spider, not knowing that it 
was a generally accepted truth that he couldn’t 
crawl out—actually did crawl out, and that 
theory went overboard. 


In “Microbe Hunters” Paul De Kruif, who 
helped Sinclair Lewis write “Arrowsmith,” 
says that one of the greatest wars in the scien- 
tific world was waged over the theory of vege- 
tative force, which meant that life arose spon- 
taneously. “The commonly accepted recipe for 
getting a swarm of bees was to take a young 
bullock, kill him by knocking him on the head, 
then bury him in a standing position with his 


108 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


horns sticking out. Leave him there a month, 
then saw off his horns, and out will fly your 
swarm of bees.” 

Even such an authority as the English na- 
turalist Ross seriously announced that: “To 
question that beetles and wasps were generated 
in cow dung was to question reason, sense and 
experience.” 

However, somebody did question it. An 
Italian scientist by the name of Spallanzani, 
through a series of clever and accurate experi- 
ments, actually proved that swarms of bees did 
not generate spontaneously in the horns of a 
bullock, and that beetles and wasps did not 
generate in cow dung. 

Ah, these questioners! What havoc they 
play with our preconceived notions and super- 
stitions! But what glorious new truths they re- 
veal tous! Thank God for the questioners and 
the doubters; for these men from Missouri who 
have to be shown. 


Vegetative force made Eve grow out of 
Adam’s rib. It was this Vegetative Force that 
gave rise to a remarkable worm-tree in China, 
says De Kruif, “which is a worm-tree in win- 


Pulpit Editorials 109 


ter, and then, marvelous to say, turns into 
Vegetative Force in the Summer.” 

Even in our day it is hard to down the belief 
that little frogs fall in the spring showers from 
the clouds. That belief persists. 

All of these fool questioners, these doubters, 
will not let us alone in our ignorance. They 
persist in looking through their microscopes 
for facts. 

They are fools for facts. 

Then some morning they shake us awake by 
announcing that, in the place of our ignorance 
and our superstitions, they have discovered 
a great scientific truth; a law that governs mi- 
crobes. They discover that by injecting just a 
little typhoid fever into our veins they can keep 
us from having a serious typhoid case. That 
strange law they call Immunity from danger- 
ous diseases. That law came about because 
some doubter, some questioner, came along 
and refused to accept the superstition that 
swarms of bees generate spontaneously in the 
horns of a month dead bullock. 

We should be grateful to these Doubters. 

We should crown with gold these fools for 
facts. 


110 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


CoNDUCT AND CALORIES 


Did you shovel in enough calories this morn- 
ing? 

You shoveled in enough coal into the fur- 
nace, no doubt. You shook down the ashes, 
you opened up the drafts. You cleaned out 
the clinkers. You took care about that. 

You wouldn’t think of starting down town, 
if your gauge showed that you were out of 
gasoline in your automobile. You are reli- 
ciously careful about seeing that your car gets 
enough oil. You take it to a garage when it 
knocks, for that means that waste carbon has 
gathered in the cylinders. You know that that 
car needs to have plenty of water. You would 
as soon think of letting the batteries go dry as 
you would think of starving your baby. 

Do you look after your body-engine half as 
well? 

Most of us expect that engine we call the 
human body to go on, year after year, with a 
neglect that would ruin an automobile or a fur- 
nace in a few months. We break down pre- 
maturely. We lose our zip and snap. We 
notice a poor pick-up, a sluggish feed, a carbon 


Pulpit Editorials 111 


knock; but we pay no attention to it. If we 
noticed these same evidences of trouble in our 
automobiles we would be nervous all day until 
we got that car to a garage or overhauled it 
ourselves. There is nothing the average man 
gets nervous about so quickly as a slight rattle 
or knock in his automobile. Most of us even 
have nerves over a squeak in the automobile 
body. The automobile industry every year de- 
velops something new to take the squeak out of 
a car with facility. 

Normal human beings store in the muscles of 
the body about 1,200 calories of energy. We 
need so much energy to run our bodies. As 
Dr. Dorsey says, “A lumberjack expends more 
energy than a lounge-lizard.” 

If we burn up that 1,200 calories which is 
stored up in our body we get as much energy as 
it would take to lift a hundred tons to a height 
of three feet. 

Even if we are doing nothing, just lying 
down all day, we need 1,700 calories a day, or 
enough energy to lift two hundred tons one 
foot. 

It takes energy to digest a meal—170 calor- 
ies, to be exact. Pvc 


112 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


It takes energy even to read. Ten calories 
for two hours. 

It takes energy to walk or play golf. Fora 
five mile walk or two hours at golf, you will 
have to add 300 calories to your fuel supply. 

Even to sit for five hours in a swivel chair, 
it will be necessary to see that your engine gets 
an extra 250 calories. 

What’s it all about? Why an editorial on 
it at all? 

This is what it all means: The science of 
eating, the science of taking care of this en- 
gine that we call the body and the brain, is 
ten million times more important than that of 
caring for our automobile batteries, our fur- 
naces, and our automobile engines, and yet we 
give it practically no attention. 

Facts are available. Books are being pub- 
lished these days which give us the facts about 
Diet, and Food, and Health and Happiness. 

Conduct and Calories? What connection 
have they? Why this Juxtaposition? 

Because conduct is largely determined by 
calories. 

If a human engine is not taking on enough 
calories it runs slowly. If the engine is not 


Pulpit Editorials 113 


kept free of slag and carbon, it knocks, and 
wheezes and groans. It is more in need of at- 
tention than the furnace. 

Let’s look after our body-engines as well as 
we do after our furnace, our batteries, and our 
automobile engines. 


BOMBARDMENTS OF ELECTRONS 


One day in the General Electrical Labora- 
tories, an insignificant looking man was play- 
ing with lightning. 

He worked like this: He would first place 
a little glass of the spores of deadly germs on 
a table. Then he would turn on an electrical 
current. There would be a flash like the light 
of a falling star. There would be a burning 
path of light between the arc which he was 
manipulating, and that path of light, which was 
really a path of bombarding electrons, would 
remain for five minutes. 

When that scientist turned off the bombard- 
ment of electrons, he would pick up that glass 
of deadly disease germs and swallow them with 
impunity. Why? Because he had killed them 
with his bombardment of electrons. 


114 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


Then he took a large piece of crystal. It was 
as large as a man’s head. He turned that 
bombardment of electrons on for a few min- 
utes, and the glass began to glow with a strange 
radiance. After five minutes it was as red as 
if it had been in a furnace. When he turned 
off the electrons, the glass was glowing like a 
star, but it did not have a bit of heat in it. 
The experimenter picked it up and it did not 
burn his hand. 

He said to a visitor: ‘We are on the verge 
of one of the greatest discoveries ever made. 
We know that if we can split an electron we 
will find enough force in that single split elec- 
tron to lift the Earth to Mars and back. We 
do not know what that bombardment of elec- 
trons does, or how it does it. But we do know 
that it changes the electrons, and makes that 
hunk of common glass glow with light.” 

There are some bombardments that make 
human lives glow with a new light and a new 
glory. 

Children glow under the bombardment of 
love. So do adults. 

Children glow under the bombardment of 
appreciation from their mothers and fathers 


Pulpit Editorials 115 


and teachers. So do husbands glow under the 
bombardments of appreciation from their 
wives—and vice versa. 

Men glow in their lives under the thrill of 
adventure. 

Creation of poetry, invention, and achieve- 
ment of every type make the souls of men to 
glow with a strange and beautiful light. 

The souls of men glow under the bombard- 
ment of great ideas which come from the Dy- 
namos of great books, great and heroic deeds, 
great dreams and visions. 


ATMOSPHERE 


We hear a lot of talk about “Atmosphere” 
these days. 

We say, “He didn’t have the right atmos- 
phere about him.” We talk about “an atmos- 
phere of culture,” or “an atmosphere that will 
produce criminals.” 

Few of us know that if it had not been for 
the atmosphere of the Hydrogen Furnace we 
would never have had electric lights in their 
present efficiency; and that we would not have 
had such a rapid development of the Radio. 


116 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


Tungsten was always a basic metal. But 
it was never possible to work with it and to 
use it. Then along came the Hydrogen Fur- 
nace. It burns slowly, with a flickering, green- 
ish light. It is not intensely hot, but it has a 
certain distinct atmosphere of its own. In this 
so-called ‘atmosphere’ and in this alone is it 
possible to work with and to handle tungsten. 
It was the atmosphere of this Hydrogen Fur- 
nace that made possible the modern tungsten 
lamp, the X-ray development, and the Radio. 

It is just as important that children and men 
be put in the right atmosphere for development. 

Certain homes have a certain atmosphere. 
There is a quiet repose, culture, and beauty 
there. A child developing under that atmos- 
phere will find it impossible to escape culture, 
repose and quiet. 

The opposite is true. 

What some writer has called “The Heredi- 
tary Fiends” must admit that the right atmos- 
phere, or the lack of that atmosphere, will make 
or ruin a child. 

Another word for atmosphere is environ- 
ment. Even men in factories work better with 


Pulpit Editorials 117 


the right atmosphere surrounding them. Mod- 
ern manufacturers have learned to make the 
rooms in which men work all day long clean and 
comfortable. White enamel, white paint, and 
clean corners have revolutionized the attitude 
of men toward their work. 

Give even a rough boy a beautiful room in 
which to attend school, a beautiful desk, good 
furniture, and he will keep it that way. He 
respects his surroundings if they are beauti- 
ful, but he will make them worse if they are 
ugly. 

It was said of Julia Ward Howe’s husband 
that he “carried about with him an air of free- 
dom.” 

The Duke of Wellington had a dangerous 
task for one of his soldiers to perform. The 
soldier was about to start off when he ap- 
proached his chief, saluted, and said: ‘First 
give me a grip of your conquering hand.” 

He wanted to imbibe some of the courage 
and fearlessness of the Duke of Wellington. 

Writers can write only under a certain at- 
mosphere. Inventors work better in the silence 
of the night alone, as is evidenced by Edison. 


118 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


An atmosphere of peace, quiet, repose, dig- 
nity, love and affection in a home or a business 
will grow better souls. 


Mi1LkK BotrLeEs AND MoNOoTONY 


We goto bed at night and get up in the morn- 
ing, and our Milk Bottles are standing on the 
back porch waiting for us. 

Fifty years ago we got up at five o'clock, 
dressed in the cold, shivering as we dressed, 
went out to the barn, knocked ice from the 
buckets, primed the old iron pump with hastily 
heated hot water, and milked the cows before 
breakfast. We worked for our milk then. 
Now it is brought to us. That is monotony. 

Fifty years ago when we wanted news we 
waited for the mail. We hitched up the old 
horse to a wagon and drove twenty miles to 
the county seat. We waited half a day until 
the mail was in. We got a weekly paper. We 
drove back home. In winter time we were 
often weeks without news. 

To-day we reach out, turn a little screw, and 
the news of the world is handed to us on a 
golden platter. We turn that little screw again, 


uipie Editoriale ne aito 


and the Metropolitan Opera Singer is brought 
to our ears. We turn it again and listen in on 
what President Coolidge has to say to us. We 
hear a thud on the porch, and the newsboy has 
tossed the news of the world to us. Just as 
the milkman brought our milk to the back 
porch, so the newsboy brought the news of the 
world to our front porch, while the news of the 
world over the Radio bangs its way through 
the very walls of our homes, it is so eager to 
get to us. 

Even our religious services, with sermons 
from the greatest preachers in the world, are 
being brought to us now. 

We used to have to go and get these things. 
We used to have to cut down trees and build 
our own homes. We used to have to get up in 
the cold rooms with frost-covered windows, 
zero temperatures, and it was a matter of fight- 
ing, and toiling, and achieving, if we wanted 
warmth, and fire, and food. 

Now we awaken and lazily roll over in bed. 
Down in the cellar there is an automatic ther- 
mostat. It turns on the fire automatically for 
us. The house is kept at a set temperature. 
Everything is warm when we arise. It is all 


120 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


done for us. We do little. We achieve little. 

There is no romance, there is no sense of 
achievement, there is no conquest. There is no 
conquering in such an experience as having the 
milk left on the back porch every morning. 

And if there is “no quest, there is no con- 
quest.” 

This editorial might have been headed 
“Struggle and Strength,” for no strength comes 
unless there is a struggle. Wings are made 
stronger through flying; legs are strengthened 
through climbing; hearts are made valiant 
through achievement. 

If we had everything brought to us on 
golden platters, we must find some substitute 
for struggle. We must fight or die! We must 
work or waste! 


“Labor is life; 
Tis the still water faileth; 
Idleness ever despaireth, bewaileth. 
Keep the watch wound or the dark rust as- 
saileth.” 


Pulpit Editorials 121 


EAGLES AND OYSTERS 


There is a difference. 

The Oyster lives at the bottom of the sea, 
and the Eagle lives at the top of the sky. 

The Oyster lives in a shell and he shuts 
himself in forever. He is the most unsocial 
creature on earth. He doesn’t like to be dis- 
turbed by others. Heisatrue isolationist. He 
is the perfect hermit. He is the softest, most 
flabby individual that we know. He never 
uses his muscles, and he is so soft that, when 
we want a figure of speech to describe flabbi- 
ness of body and soul, we use the Oyster. 

Some people are like Oysters. They shut 
themselves up in their homes and deny them- 
selves to others. They have no friends. They 
have no social life. They take no physical ex- 
ercise and they wonder why they get flabby of 
body and flabby of soul. 

They allow no new ideas to penetrate their 
shells of reserve. Ideas irritate them. They 
shut their souls to ideas. But even there they 
might learn a lesson from the Oyster. When 
something penetrates the shut shell of an Oy- 
ster, it irritates, but it makes a Pearl. Ideas 


122 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


are like that when they enter into an isolated 
soul’s armor. Ideas irritate, but they form 
Pearls just the same. 

Consider the magnificent Eagle. He soars. 
He uses his wings. He builds brawny muscles. 
He sails into the sun, unblinking. He rests on 
the Sequoia tops, his talons tightening about a 
branch. He feels the beats of storms. He 
braces his body to buffet those winds. He feels 
a thrill of life in every feather. He likes to 
fight the winds and storms. He likes the blaze 
of the sunin hiseyes. He likes the tumultuous, 
turbulent, tossing of the trees. 

There are Eagles among human beings. 

Eagle-men like to fight storms. They like 
to use their wings. They grow through strug- 
gle. They soar to the heights and have the 
viewpoint of distance, and wide horizons. 
Eagle-men are of an Eagle-brood. Such men 
live and laugh and love on the heights. They 
have world-view-points. They think in world- 
thoughts. They read great books. They are 
citizens of the skies. Flammarion said, just be- 
fore he died, “Astronomy’s greatest contribu- 
tion to mankind is that it has made human be- 
ings citizens of the skies.” 


Pulpit Editorials 123 


Eagle-men are citizens of the skies. Their 
children are not soft and pampered. Their 
children grow through battle. Such children 
do not become soft like Oysters but hard like 
Eagles. 

Are we producing a breed of Oysters or 
Eagles in the United States to-day? Are we 
making life too easy for our children, giving 
them no responsibilities, no hardships, no work 
to do? If we are, we are breeding Oyster- 
traits rather than Eagle-traits in our children. 

Youth ought to know battle, hardships, and 
muscle-making and soul-saving struggle if it 
develops Eagle-wings, and Eagle-view-points, 
and Eagle-souls, to face the blazing sun. 

Eagles or Oysters? There is a thought there 
in that Juxtaposition. 


EAGER TO ENNOBLE LIFE 


Some writer says of Luther Burbank that 
“He is eager to ennoble life.” 

One does not need to know about a man’s 
theology, nor does he need to agree with that 
theology. If he knows that a man like Bur- 
bank lives, “eager to ennoble life.” That is 


124 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


enough to know about him. It is a good test 
for a man. 

It is a good test for us to apply to our own 
lives. Are we “eager to ennoble life’? 

Do we live in a little town? Is it a typical 
“Main Street’? Does it seem that we are 
doomed to remain in that little town to the end? 
Is it trying to our souls to live there? What 
is the way out? It is to get into one’s heart 
the full meaning of this phrase, “Eager to en- 
noble life,’ and before long we may remake 
that little town. Many a man, and many a 
woman, has made over his little home town be- 
cause he was “eager to ennoble life,’ and has 
been called blessed forever. 

Many an invalid has lived a gloriously 
happy and helpful life although condemned to 
lie, a human wreck, on a bed or in a wheel 
chair. How? Because that invalid—and most 
of us have seen many of them—has learned 
the secret of that phrase, and has become 
“eager to ennoble life.” 

Children often grow up with that spirit in- 
culcated into their souls. They are always 
happy children. People love them. They win 
everybody. They go about wistfully, always 


Pulpit Editorials 125 


eager to help, always eager to serve, always 
making friends, always smiling. 

A recent book called “Microbe Hunters” tells 
the dramatic story of Spallanzani, Pasteur, 
Roux and Behring, Metchnikoff, Theobald 
Smith, Bruce, Walter Read and Paul Ehrlich, 
scientists who devoted their lives to a study of 
germs and microbes; discovering them, isolat- 
ing them, fighting them, developing antitoxins 
and serums, conquering diphtheria, rabies, 
smallpox, scarlet fever, anthrax; learning how 
to immune animals and human beings from the 
ravages of these terrible diseases. These men, 
consciously or unconsciously, have been men 
who were able to meet the test of this great 
phrase. 

Men who paint great pictures, write great 
poems, preach great sermons, live great lives 
before their fellowmen are “eager to ennoble 
life.” Business men who have at the heart of 
their ambitions, at the souls of their industry, 
as the motive of their toil and building, the de- 
sire to serve humanity, may well test their lives 
with this phrase. 

Lincoln said as much in these words: “I 
have not done much, but this have I done— 


126 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


wherever I have found a thistle growing I 
have tried to pluck it up, and in its place I have 
planted a flower.” 


THE ART OF CONVERSATION 


Conversation as an art is dying out in these 
United States. 

The newspaper is too much with us, with 
its cheap and blatant phraseology. We live 
too much with comic strips, jazz music, and 
cheap talk, to enjoy and achieve conversation 
in the sense that Johnson, Carlyle, and Tenny- 
son used to enjoy—just talking. 

Listen to the average conversation in a 
smoking room on a Pullman car any day if 
you want to know how degenerate conversation 
has become in America. 

It is frequently vulgar; it is always inane; 
it is too often stupid. It is always small-town 
business talk from so-called big-town men. 
These are men who think they are big-town 
men, and who have a very superior attitude 
towards the inhabitants of the small towns 
which they “make” every month, and where 
they sell their products. 


Pulpit Editorials 127 


“Conversation is about all there is to a man. 
Listen to him long enough and you will know 
what he is by what he says in his conversation,” 
a great man used to say. 

Naturally. If aman lives in the stars in his 
thought world, before long he will be talking 
about the stars. If he lives in books he will be 
talking about books. If he lives with pictures 
in his soul, he will be talking pictures. If he 
lives with great thoughts, he will be pouring 
forth great thoughts. 

But if he lives with wheels all the time he will 
talk about wheels. If his entire life is made up 
of selling coats and shoes and machinery, that 
will be the sum total of his talk. 

No wonder Sinclair Lewis complains about 
our conversational powers. He indicts us be- 
cause we have lost the art of conversation. His 
explanation of why we have lost this art is that 
we have nothing to talk about, and that is a 
deplorable state to be in. In the old days when 
a pioneer came in, he had been waylaid by 
Indians and had shot his way through to safety. 
Or he had killed a bear. Or he had fallen 
into a swollen river, or he had been out on the 


128 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


trail for a week. He had something to talk 
about. Something had happened to him. 

To-day we sit at a ball game and watch. We 
do not take a part init. Weread about things 
happening, but we have no part in making them 
happen. We do not read great books of great 
adventures. Consequently we have nothing to 
talk about, and the art of conversation is dying 
out. 

We seldom sit at home for an evening. Our 
libraries are the most deserted rooms in our 
homes, if there are even any pretenses at hay- 
ing libraries. We know no repose. We fly 
with a strange nervousness from one motion 
picture to another, from one social engagement 
to another, from one noonday lunch club to 
another. 

We sing to order, we shout to order, we lis- 
ten to canned oratory. We take our education 
and our culture in capsules, and we do not cre- 
ate. We do not achieve! We watch others 
achieving for us on the screen, and in human 
activities; but we do nothing, and therefore we 
have nothing to talk about. 

The Art of Conversation will come back _ 


Pulpit Editorials 129 


again only when we begin to achieve, and when 
we have something happen to us. 


BRAINS AND BEAUTY 


Have women more brains than men? 

Is that common American slang expression, 
“Beautiful but dumb,” fair to women? 

A recent scientist says that the average 
weight of the average male European brain is 
1,375 grams, for females about 1,235. The 
largest woman’s brain that Science has ever 
recorded is only 1,742 grams, and she was in- 
sane and died of tuberculosis. The third larg- 
est woman’s brain weighed 1,580 grams and 
she was insane. The brain of Turgenev, the 
Russian novelist, weighed 2,012 grams. 

But that means nothing, for the weight of a 
brain does not determine the intelligence. If 
it did we could easily decide that woman was 
inferior to man, for the average woman’s brain 
is smaller than the average man’s brain. 

However, there are some things that we can 
count as certain. 

Woman fought for the ballot. She is not 
using it. She is neglecting that privilege for 


130 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


which she fought long and valiantly. The 
chase achieved, she began to lose interest. She 
has not helped the political situation. If she 
does not wake up and use the ballot she has 
betrayed a sacred trust. 

Edward Bok tells us of his long losing battle 
to free the woman of America from her vassal- 
age to fashion as it is set by Paris and Europe. 
He was told by wiser heads that American 
women would not care to break free from 
Paris. He was told that the American woman 
would not originate her own gowns. 

He learned that those who warned him were 
right. The American woman is still a slave 
to Paris and still follows the leadership of the 
French dressmakers. 

Mr. Bok even had a dissappointment in try- 
ing to get American women to quit using birds 
and bird-feathers in their hats. He pictured 
the death of countless millions of birds. It did 
not make any impression on American women. 
They went right on wearing feathers and birds 
in their hats when they could get them. 

The average American woman to-day wears 
clothes so thin that a mere male would come 
home with pneumonia if he dressed that thinly 


Pulpit Editorials 13] 


on a zero day, but in July we see her adorn 
herself with the furs that animals shed when 
summer comes, and it is a common sight on a 
July night, when men are burning up, to see a 
well-dressed woman with a fur about her neck. 

Is “Beautiful but dumb” a fair expression? 

Who knows? Who dares to decide? Cer- 
tainly not a mere editor, even though he can 
hide behind the well-buttressed walls of edi- 
torial security. 

However the above facts are interesting to 
consider, and they will particularly appeal to 
the male portion of our readers. 

What is the answer? Perhaps our readers 
can tell us. 


PRIMING THE PuMP 


Do you remember the days of long ago when 
it was necessary to prime the old-fashioned 
pump in the back yard before it would start? 

We took a bucket of water that was always 
left over for that purpose, poured it down into 
the pump and wielded the pump-handle with 
ereat vigor until a full stream of water began 
to flow. 


132 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


Most writers tell us that they have to prime 
their pumps before the flow of ideas starts. One 
writer says that he goes to his desk, and some- 
times sits for an hour before he gets a thought, 
but he finds that, if: he writes a letter to a 
friend, or copies a poem, or just hammers away 
at his typewriter in an imaginary communica- 
tion to Mars, pretty soon the thoughts begin to 
flow and he is ready for a day’s work. 

Most of us find that we have to have the 
pump of personality primed with something. A 
friend drops in and spends a few chatty minutes 
and we feel new energies throbbing through our 
brains. We attend a noon-day lunch club, and 
ideas start. We pick up a great book and read 
a few sentences, and before we know it the 
streams of pure thought are flowing freely. 
We see a boy playing in the street, flying his 
kite, knuckling his marbles, and our thoughts 
begin to flow out. 

Our bodies need to be primed even. A drink 
of warm water the first thing in the morning; 
a few simple exercises, not too violent; a look 
into the Bible, if only a sentence or two; a word 
of Family Prayer; a smile for the children; and 
a word of affection for wife or husband. 


Pulpit Editorials jive 4 


A man enters his office and finds it full of 
grouchy people. That office needs the priming 
of a smile, a cheery word—not Pollyanna pret- 
tiness—but friendly, fraternal fun. That sim- 
ple priming will start the streams of good will 
and happiness to flowing in that office at once. 

This editor knows a woman in a little town 
who reads an hour in some great book every 
morning before she does any of the house- 
work. That may sound foolish but it works. 
That woman is the most poised, cheerful, and 
useful woman in that little town. She has re- 
made the thought of that town, because she 
has that hour of communion with the great 
minds of all time every morning. 

We have a great fad for Setting Up Exer- 
cises these days. They are good. Every physi- 
cian will say that even the body needs a start 
in the morning. It ought not to be thrown into 
full gear at once. The sap ought to be started 
slowly. The body ought to be primed. Too 
strenuous exercise is worse than none. 

We ought to get the habit here in America 
of putting into effect some mental and spiritual 
setting-up exercises also every morning. 

We ought to prime our bodies! 


134 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


We ought to prime our minds! 

We ought to prime our dispositions! 

We ought to prime our homes with laughter, 
love and light! 


BuMpPsS AND BLESSINGS 


Men are often Kicked into their Kingdoms. 

Bumps are often blessings. 

A while ago a writer of dog stories—Ter- 
hune—in the American Magazine told a story 
of what “Bumps” had done for him. He told 
of how, when a boy, he had decided to level the 
bumps on the road where he sled-rode. His 
father told him that bumps were for a good pur- 
pose; that they gave the horses a foothold; 
that they ran the water off to the side of the 
road instead of washing the road away when 
a heavy rain came. 

Carl Harriman tells of how he was fired 
from the Detroit Free Press one morning and 
thought it was the greatest calamity that had 
ever come to him—but that in a few months he 
was Managing Editor of the Ladies Home 
Journal. Being fired from the Free Press was 
the best thing that ever happened to him. 


Pulpit Editorials 135 


Many a man has worked for years with one 
firm and has gotten into a rut. He gets dis- 
charged and thinks that the end of the world 
has come. The experience shakes his soul 
awake, and in a few months he discovers that 
that shake-up was the best thing that ever hap- 
pened to him. 

He was Kicked into his Kingdom and into 
a new life and into a new development. 

Saul had that experience on the road to Da- 
mascus. He was literally kicked into a new 
Kingdom. He was knocked down and shaken 
awake and became a new man. 

William Allen White says in his book on 
President Coolidge: 

“Of course some seismic event may trans- 
form him. He may go upon a journey where 
he shall see a ‘Great Light’ and a Voice may 
call him ‘Saul, Saul.’ Cataclysmic regeneration 
is not impossible; but it is unusual.” 

Often bumps, disappointments, tragedies, 
act upon men as seismic upheavals. An earth- 
quake in Italy once destroyed the vineyards 
but opened up a vein of gold. Earthquakes 
often do this. 


136 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


WHat ARE THE OLDEST Livinc THINGS 
ON EARTH? 


The Temple of Heaven in Pekin, China, was 
there when Europe was a howling wilderness of 
savages. 

Two million years ago according to Mac- 
Millan, the explorer, gigantic Sequoia trees 
were growing around the north pole in a tropi- 
cal region. 

The remains of these Sequoia trees are now 
being found in these polar regions. 

Which leads us to say that the oldest living 
things on earth are the Sequoia trees of Cali- 
fornia. 

When the Temple of Heaven was dust and 
mud these Sequoia trees were seedlings. When 
Moses was navigating the bullrushes in Egypt 
these Sequoias were young giants reaching their 
aspiring arms out to play with the hills. When 
Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, these 
Sequoia trees of California were gigantic, 
hoary-headed patriarchs, lifting their arms in 
stately dignity to play with the clouds of the 
skies. 

When the great glaciers had shunted them- 


Pulpit Editorials 137 


selves back, and had melted away, the first 
thing that began to grow on this earth was a 
Sequoia tree. 

Europe may boast of its older civilization; 
and the Oriental world may look upon America 
as a child among the nations of the earth. But 
we do have the unique distinction of having the 
Sequoias, which are said by Science to be the 
oldest living things on the face of the planet. 


CONSTRUCTIVE CHAOS 


If any Iowa farmer had been living during 
the Glacial Period when the great ice-floes were 
sweeping down across this continent, and had 
seen the chaos and destruction, he would have 
complained immediately of the Government. 
He would have said that there was no order, 
and that there was no sense to all of the cold 
and ice and waste. 

But if that Iowa farmer would ask any scien- 
tist to-day, that scientist would tell him that 
the reason why his farm soil is so rich and black 
is because the glaciers, like huge plows, carried 
down from the tropical regions of the north in 
the Glacial Period, great masses of loam and 


138 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


black soil. Even then, amid what seemed to 
be disorderly chaos, the great forces of the 
Universe were not only carving out our Grand 
Canyons and our Yosemites and our beautiful 
Glacial Meadows and our Lake Tahoes; but 
they were carrying down across our western 
states thick deposits of black soil to enrich the 
lives of the men and women and children of 
to-day. There was order in that chaos. That 
was a constructive chaos. 

If any human being had been an observer of 
the first great chaos of the earth, he would 
have said that the Divine ruling of the Uni- 
verse was a farce; that there was no order and 
no unity and no evident purpose. 

Were there not great forests falling and rot- 
ting in waste? Were there not beautiful 
flowers and ferns as large as trees rotting 
through the centuries, with no purpose and no 
order? There were. It looked bad for an in- 
telligent running of this poor old world. 

But to-day we get our light, our heat, our 
coal, our diamonds, our oil and gasoline to run 
our motor cars and our factories, out of that 
chaos, out of that seeming disorder. After all, 


Pulpit Editorials 139 


it looks as if there had been a plan and a pur- 
pose from the very beginning. 

It took a long time to see that purpose. The 
Glacial Period didn’t seem to have much reason 
for being. But out of both of these periods of 
chaos seems to have come a great purpose. It 
may be that to-day we are in the midst of a 
chaos that is constructive. 


“NONE OF THE COoOOLIDGES EvER WENT 
WEST” 


William Allen White’s book on Calvin Cool- 
idge might well have selected this phrase as a 
text. That phrase runs like a sermon-text all 
through the book. 

That is why they call him “Cautious Cal.” 

Mr. White says: “There you have it—a 
congenital lack of initiative. So he is not 
strong as a leader of men, but as an adminis- 
trator.” 

President Coolidge never would have pio- 
neered new lands. He never would have gone 
“Beyond the edge of cultivation.”” He never 
would have opened new trails. 


140 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


If there was once a Puritan strain in him it 
died out long ago. He is contented with the 
Status Quo—whatever that is. He is no 
Roosevelt. He is no Wilson. But even Mr. 
White decides that he is the man for the hour. 

The nation is tired of adventure, and bustle 
and confusion. It wants no more buccaneer- 
ing. It wants peace, and quiet. It wants busi- 
ness to have a chance. For the time being Mr. 
Coolidge seems to be the kind of a man the 
nation desires to have for its President, and if 
that is the kind of a man the nation likes, that 
is the kind of a man it likes. 

If the reader has not. read Mr. White’s book 
it is summed up ina few words. This Kansas 
editor, who has recently taken to summing up 
our Presidents for us—including Wilson, 
Coolidge—and a book to come on Roosevelt, 
says that Coolidge is a Cross-word Puzzle and 
that the words that describe him are: 

1. Silence. “He was weaned on a clothes- 


3? 


pin. 
2. Economy. He was given a three-cent 


piece by his recently deceased father at one time 
with the sage advice: ““Now don’t spend it all 
foolishly.” 


Pulpit Editorials 141 


3. Caution. “None of the Coolidges ever 
went west.” 

4. Idealism. He has never made money. 
He has always served. 

5. sincerity. ‘He couldn’t pose any more 
than he could babble.” 

6. Humility. “He never claimed as much as 
he did, and so got credit for doing more than 
any human could do. Humanity is that way. 
Thus the superman myth arose! ‘Blessed be 
the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.’ ” 

Average, everyday, reliable, sincere, cautious, 
humble even if “None of the Coolidges ever 
went west.” 


CHANCE—AND THE COOLIDGE CAREER 


Chance changes careers over night. 

Another word for it is luck. 

The lazy-minded always account for unusual 
success by saying, “He was lucky,” or “It was 
a matter of chance.” They said that always 
about Roosevelt. They even said it about Lin- 
coln. They probably said it about Moses. 

The Coolidge career looks like “Chance.” 
The Boston Police Strike, with which he had 


142 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


little to do in the settlement, and with which 
he claimed little—gave him his so-called chance 
to attract the attention of the nation. 

They tried to shunt him aside into the Vice- 
presidency, as they did Roosevelt, and they suc- 
ceeded—until “Chance” came along. Over- 
night he, like Roosevelt, was President. 

We are not concerned with the politics of 
Coolidge, nor are we pronouncing judgment 
either way on hisincumbency. We are talking 
about “Chance.” 

Pasteur says, “In the realm of Science 
chance favors the trained mind.” 

Chance may enter, but it favors the man who 
is ready for it, either in politics, or industry, 
or science. 

William Allen White says of this accusation 
that a Coolidge came by “Chance” into his 
career: “Calvin Coolidge is an enigma, not an 
accident. In every career chance enters. But 
in no career that takes a man gradually to the 
world’s place of greatest power does chance 
govern.” 

Then he calls our eyes to the fact that out of 
twenty times that Coolidge has gone before the 
voters of America for office, nineteen times has 


Pulpit Editorials 143 


he been elected. Harding ran seven times and 
lost but once. Wilson ran and won three times; 
Roosevelt six out of eight; McKinley eleven 
out of fourteen; Cleveland five out of seven; 
Harrison two out of three. 

It was not “Chance” that elected Calvin 
Coolidge nineteen out of twenty times. 

The man who believes that the Coolidge ca- 
reer is accounted for by chance will get little 
comfort. “Luck” is not a reliable mistress. 


THe LEAP oF LIFE 


No, this is not a daredevil motion picture 
stunt. 

Science informs us that protoplasm, which 
is the life of life, is 72 per cent oxygen, 13.5 
per cent carbon, 9.1 per cent hydrogen, and 2.5 
per cent nitrogen. The rest of protoplasm is 
sulphur, phosphorus, chlorine, sodium, potas- 
sium, calcium, magnesium, iron and silicon, 
with a tiny pinch of fluorine, iodine and man- 
ganese. 

Very simple, isn’t it? Apparently all you 
have to do is to shake these ingredients to- 
gether and you have protoplasm, or life. 


144 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


Not so simple. Scientists have been trying 
it for centuries. 

The solemn and scientific truth is that there 
is a “Leap of Life’ somewhere which science 
has not bridged. It is an unexplainable gap. 
Science admits that. 

Edison went so far in his experiments on the 
phonograph. He was then up against a stone 
wall. He could go no farther. Then in a sud- 
den flash the thing came to him. It looked as 
if God had said: “Go as far as you can your- 
self, and when you come to the last leap, Vl 
help you over.” 

Most of the great scientific discoveries come 
in this way. Any careful reading of the story 
of the great discoveries will reveal this strange 
thing. 

Conversion is an old word. It deals with a 
religious experience that many men have had. 
It is one of those experiences which cannot be 
explained scientifically. Dr. James of Har- 
vard admits that there is a leap there that can- 
not be explained, but which is the very essence 
of reality. Those who have had this experi- 
ence say that it remains to the end of life the 
ereat reality of all experiences. 


Pulpit Editorials 145 


Dr. Hutton describes it in this way: “There 
is a certain type of a bomb which can only be 
ignited by placing it in the direct rays of the 
sun. When it is placed in the rays of the sun, 
it suddenly explodes. This is what happens 
to a human soul when it is placed in the light 
of Christ. All of the powers and possibilities 
of that soul are somehow released in that sud- 
den explosion. The inhibitions of a lifetime are 
broken. The bonds are snapped. The soul is 
released, and it makes a leap to God. 

Science is penetrating and wise, but there are 
some things that even science cannot explain. 
The Leap of Life is one of them. 


VaRIETY Is THE SPICE OF LIFE 


Nature has put a lot of spice into life, ac- 
cording to that definition. 

We are told that not a single snowflake, al- 
though all of them are of perfect mathematical 
design, is like its fellow snowflakes. This is 
certainly infinite variety. It gives one a whole- 
some sense of respect for the Creator behind 
these billions of flakes that fall in a single 
storm. 


146 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


Weare all familiar with the fact that no two 
thumb prints are alike, and it is on this fascinat- 
ing assumption and scientific proof that our 
whole thumb-print system of detecting crim- 
inals is founded. It is also this scientific fact 
that hospitals are now using to mark new-born 
babies so that the wrong baby will not be de- 
livered to a mother. That system is certain. 

Then along comes science and tells us that 
no two germ cells are alike and that of the 
seventeen hundred millions of human beings on 
the earth to-day, no two are alike. 

Walk along the seashore and try to find two 
stones alike some summer day. 

In the fall time, gather a thousand leaves and 
see if you can find two that look exactly alike. 

Look closely at birds, chickens, dogs, cats, 
twins, and see what infinite variety there is 
about animal and human life. 

Look through a rose garden and see if you 
can find two roses that look exactly alike, or 
even two petals or two rose leaves, and you will 
be surprised at the infinite variety of Nature. 

Who ever saw two sunsets or two sunrises 
that looked alike, or two clouds, or two dawns, 
or two seasons? 


Pulpit Editorials 147 


Sit in a store window in a city and watch the 
human race go by, and watch the infinite variety 
of human life. 

No wonder they refer to it as “Infinite Vari- 
ety.’ Nothing but the Infinite could have 
coined such variety, such fascinating differ- 
ences in all life. 


THE WIZARDRY OF WATER 


Hydrogen is highly inflammable. Unite it 
with oxygen, which is another gas, and you 
have water, which puts out fire, and makes up 
most of our bodily weight. 

Most of our human bodies and 85 per cent 
of our brains are made up of water. If our 
brains were only 20 per cent water they would 
be as hard as our skulls, and if they were only 
IO per cent water they would be all fat. 

Perhaps that is where our American expres- 
sions “water on the brain,” “solid ivory,” and 
“fat-head” originated. In the proportion that 
we have water on the brain are we either “‘solid 
ivory” or “fat-heads.” 

Water carries on the wizardry of solvents. 
It is the greatest solvent we know. Each year 


148 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


rivers carry to the sea five billion tons of dis- 
solved material, and unnumbered millions of 
tons of carbon compounds. 

Over go per cent of the blood of the human 
body is water. It holds in solution all of the 
needed chemicals for our bodily good, and car- 
ries away all the wastes of our body. 

Says Dr. Dorsey in “Why We Behave Like 
Human Beings,” “Water’s high specific heat 
makes it possible for man to produce 2,400 cal- 
ories a day, enough to raise his temperature to 
150 degrees, and yet to keep his body at nor- 
mal temperature.” The body needs water just 
as an automobile engine needs it. 

Everything that lives is but a watery solu- 
tion. Even man is like a porous sack of water. 

A while ago this author published an arti- 
cle on “Water in the Philippines.” That article 
showed how artesian wells had remade the life 
of these tropical islands, how it had cut down 
the death rate 75 per cent, how it had turned a 
pest area into a garden spot of glory. This 
was America’s greatest contribution to the 
Philippine Islands. 

Wholesome water and lots of it is better than 
much medicine. There is a strange wizardry 


Pulpit Editorials 149 


about water that is good for life, and is the 
heart of protoplasm, brain, and blood stream. 


No Sucu Tuinc As A PERFECT MAN 


As the cartoonists say, “Somebody is always. 
spoiling things.” 

Now along comes our scientist friend, Dr. 
George A. Dorsey, in “Why We Behave Like 
Human Beings,” to tell us that there is no “Per- 
fect Man.” 

This startling scientific statement will mean 
that a lot of human beings of the male gender 
will have to revise their estimates of them- 
selves. 

A few Jack Dempseys, Rudolph Valentinos, 
Douglas Fairbanks, and young Sheiks, will 
have to do a lot of explaining to their wives, 
their public, and their Shebas. | 

For thus speaketh Dr. Dorsey: “This is. 
certain; there is no fixed, standardized, perfect, 
or biologically ideal human body.” 

This will come as a great shock to some men, 
as every wife will testify. It will come as a 
shock to that curious Lounge Lizard we have 
recently developed in American life. 


150 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


One of these specimens came into a dentist’s 
office and asked for gas. The dentist looked 
at him, with his hair pasted back from his 
narrow brow, his cheeks rouged, his lavender 
socks, tie and shirt matching; and turning to 
his young lady assistant, said: “How will I 
know when he is unconscious if I give him 
gasp” 

Once a boy was molding a mud-man along 
a village stream. The child’s mother called 
for him torun on anerrand. In the meantime, 
one of the village Sheiks came along smoking 
a cigarette, his hair sleeked back, and the usual 
inane look, and the little boy couldn’t find his 
mud-man which he was making when his 
mother called him to run on the errand. How- 
ever, there was the village Sheik, and the little 
fellow looked up and said: “Why did you run 
away before I got you finished ?” 

Sometimes we think that Dr. Dorsey is right 
when we look upon some of these modern 
Lounge Lizard Sheiks. We are almost con- 
vinced that there is “no such thing as a perfect 
man.” 


Pulpit Editorials 151 


VESTIGES 


We are full of ‘“Vestiges.” 

They used to tell us that we were full of 
Prunes. 

But Science now comes along and points out 
the Vestiges. 

Of course we all know about the appendix. 
We have known for a long time that the ap- 
pendix was a hangover, which is a more popu- 
lar word for vestige. Now they tell us that the 
“palm-pad” used to be used, and is now use- 
less, when we walked on all fours. The ster- 
nalis muscle of the breast is another which has 
outworn its usefulness. The snarling muscle 
is dead wood and we don’t need it, although 
some of us use it. Some few men can wiggle 
their ears, and others can wiggle the entire 
scalp. These are a few of the thousands of 
vestigial muscles in the body. | 

But the body is not the only institution that 
carries vestiges. Our clothes carry them. 
What about the buttons on our sleeves? 

What about horses on city streets impeding 
traffic for several blocks? What about the old- 
fashioned pump we used to have to prime in 


152 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


the morning with a bucket of water? What 
about the “old-fashioned girl” we see now and 
then with long hair and without a cigarette? 

They used to say that “Life is just one 
damned thing after another.”’ 

Pretty soon we will be saying that “Life is 
just one useless vestige after another.” 

But after all, vestigial hangovers mean prog- 
ress, so that every time you go into a museum 
and see a curio, that indicates progress. 

Horses are few and far between in our city 
streets, but when we do see one, it emphasizes 
the progress that we have made in a quarter. of 
a century in automobile construction and trans- 
portation. 

So let’s not get discouraged because a few 
vestiges remain. 

We even have a few vestiges in Congress, 
and in Church, and in our Educational System. 
Maybe Kings are vestiges. Who knows? 


TITHING 


The lowest standard ever set was set by the 
Bible. The Old Testament suggests a tenth 


Pulpit Editorials 153 


of one’s income, before anything else is taken 
out. 

The Hebrew used to bring the first of his 
flocks, and his herds, and offer them as burnt 
offerings. 

Then came the Income Tax, and the Govern- 
ment assumed that fifteen per cent of one’s in- 
come should go to some form of benevolence 
or charity. It was a striking thing that the 
Government went five per cent ahead of the old 
Biblical standard on this matter of giving. 

Then along came men like Hyde, the Men- 
tholatum king; Welch, the Grape Juice man, 
and decided that ninety per cent was a fair 
tithe to give back to good works and good 
thing's. 

But recently we have the example of 
Sir Henry Lunn, the Englishman who has 
visited our shores, who decided, after due 
thought, that he would give his entire fortune 
and income to the business of promoting unity 
among the churches. This is the first gift of 
this kind that has ever been set aside for this 
purpose. 

It is an indication of the trend of the age. 


154 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


Men are coming to the place where they feel 
themselves to be but stewards of money. 

Some men of great wealth give their Tithes, 
or their fifteen per cent, or their ninety per 
cent, by organizing a so-called “Foundation,” 
and let other men dispose of their wealth, either 
because they do not want to bother with spend- 
ing it, or because they do not feel capable of 
spending it. Others put their tithes back into 
their industry, or their organization, in order 
to make that industry and that organization 
capable of giving more people a livelihood, of 
making human beings more self-respecting and 
independent. 

That is more than tithing; that is more than 
building foundations; that is more than giving 
away one’s fortune and one’s money, for that is 
continuing to give one’s self with one’s money 
and one’s talents to others. Some day we will 
come to recognize this as one of the truest, and 
most intelligent and most generous forms of 
ceiving. This type of giving costs. It costs 
the energies, the thought, the time, that might 
be spent in Florida, or Monte Carlo, or Cali- 
fornia. It costs supervision, it costs worry 
and personal sacrifice. One cannot give in this 


Pulpit Editorials 155 


fashion and play golf in Florida all winter. 
This is the highest form of the tithe, for it 
tithes one’s blood, one’s years, one’s family, 
one’s friends. 


PARADES 


How we do love parades, we human beings! 

Circus parades have intrigued us from boy- 
hood days. Few American men but have 
golden memories of watching the circus come 
to town, watching it unload, carrying water for 
the elephant; watching the morning parade 
rumble through the village streets. 

Some of us remember the old torchlight pro- 
cessions of the Harrison-Cleveland-McKinley 
days; and most of us carried torches in any 
parade available, regardless of our paternal 
politics. 

Very few of us who were born in small 
towns to this day can resist watching the fire- 
wagons whirl by. That is a hangover of small- 
town days. In New York City to-day a dozen 
men of wealth have fire alarms in their rooms 
which sound when a “general alarm” is turned 
in, and they never miss a big fire. Vhey give 


156 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


gifts of ambulances and fire-fighting outfits in 
return for this privilege. 

We even celebrate a wedding with a parade 
_ down the aisle of the church. Men do the wed- 
ding step like a goose-step, but women do it 
like a swan-step. The reason is that a woman 
has been practicing that step in her dreams 
from girlhood. Few men do it well. 

War brought its parades. A current motion 
picture of the Great War is expressed in pa- 
rades. It starts with that innumerable host of 
parades in the small towns when our boys, 
without uniforms, awkwardly, eagerly (not 
knowing what it all meant or where that parade 
ended), marched off to war like sheep to the 
slaughter. 

Then there were the parades from the box- 
car trains in France to the billets in the manure 
of French stables. Then the parade of lorries 
one night into the front trenches. Then the 
Dress Parade through the fields of France, 
trampling down the red poppies in the face of 
machine-gun fire. So Joyce Kilmer died face 
forward. Then there were the parades of the 
“walking wounded” after the battle. Then 
there were the glorious parades through our 


Pulpit Editorials 157 


city streets ““When the Boys Came Home” from 
“Over There.” 

But a part of the “Big Parade” that the pic- 
ture does not show is the parade of a young 
wife, eight years after the war, in an Arizona 
town, or a California town; a parade to a little 
God’s Acre, alone, leaving her boy-husband, 
after a battle with tuberculosis caused by gas 
or liquid fire. These parades are going on all 
over America. We must not forget these pa- 
rades; these lonely parades, without band, or 
trumpets, or glory. 


THE WoE oF WEIGHT 


It used to be “The Weight of Woe,” but now 
it is “The Woe of Weight.” 

We human beings double our weight in the 
first six months. A calf does it in fifty days; 
a dog in eight. 

We increase our weight 200 per cent the first 
year, about 30 per cent the second year, and 
only 5 per cent the fifth year. 

At puberty, which is from the fourteenth to 
seventeenth years, we take another jump and 


158 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


increase our weight to 12 per cent. That is 
supposed to be our last spurt. 

At least, science tells us that our weight 
ought not materially to increase after that time, 
if we live as we ought to live. 

But most Americans then go on a Carbohy- 
drate Debauch and the girth grows greater; 
so great, in fact, that weight becomes woe. 

That is the reason why, when children are 
starving in the Near East and grown-ups are 
starving in the Far East, and all over the earth, 
we human beings here in America are spending 
most of our time trying to reduce our weight. 
We know that weight is woe. 

In recent years, there has come a flock of 
books from the presses of the publishers. on 
“Diet and Health,’ “Eat and Grow Slim,” 
“How to Reduce,” and America is buying them 
by the hundreds of thousands. Publishers are 
selling books on how to eat as rapidly as the 
most popular novels sell. Indeed, any book on 
food or diet is a sure-fire.success. We want to 
keep slim, but we haven’t the courage to quit 
eating. 

The remedy is simple. Quit eating Carbo- 
hydrates. The everyday articles of diet which 


Pulpit Editorials 159 


contain most carbohydrates are: White bread 
(or any kind of bread), sugar, and potatoes. 
Anybody can reduce by eliminating these three 
articles of diet. 

Weight is woe. Yet we do not need to cut 
our lives short, and diminish our efficiency and 
our alertness fifty per cent. Every drug store, 
every railway depot, every “five and ten cent 
store” has a scale, most of them free, with a 
table that will tell us how heavy we ought to be 
for a certain height. 


How LonGc WILL WE LIveE? 


It depends. 

Some invertebrates live less than 100 hours. 
Some insects live 17 years; some fishes and rep- 
tiles live over 200 years. 

Few human beings live 100 years. Papers 
tell about many such, but they are not always 
authentic. Science tells us that absolutely au- 
thenticated cases of human beings who live be- 
yond 100 years are almost unknown. 

Some mammals live less than two years, some 
locusts seventeen. 

Dr. Dorsey says that a dog is old at twenty 


160 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


years. He says that he has seen a parrot that 
was 117 years old. 

A tortoise can live 350 years. It may be 
slow, but it knows how to live a long time. No 
elephant has ever been known to live be- 
yond 130. 

But it isn’t how long one lives; it is how 
much one lives while life lasts. Some men 
live two hundred years in a hundred. They 
live largely and beautifully. ‘They live simply 
and quietly. 

The sunset years ought to be the most beau- 
tiful of all; for as Browning says, these are 
the years for which all the rest were made. 

The length of life is not important; but the 
weight of one’s life is supremely important. 

To have lived, and served, and loved, and 
laughed, is important even if one only has a 
few weeks or months or years in which to do it. 


CARRIERS ON LIFE’S SEA 


There are four carriers on Life’s fitful sea. 

The first is the Canoe of Childhood. 

It is frail and easy to upset. All over the 
world the death rate among babies is high. 


Pulpit Editorials 161 


Infant mortality is one of the signs of the prog- 
ress of civilization. The lower this infant 
mortality is, the higher in the scale of civiliza- 
tion have we attained. 

The second is the Sailboat of Youth. 

This is the symbol of the adventure, the dar- 
ing, the careless period of life. A sailboat 
dips, and skims, and sweeps the seas. It is 
Youth’s type of a ship. The Speed Boat is an- 
other symbol of Youth. Youth takes chances. 
Youth speeds an automobile. Youth dares dan- 
ger. Youth has never learned caution. 

The third is the old passenger ship of Middle 
Age. 

Middle Age takes the sea gently. It wants 
a sure thing. It takes a great liner. It wants 
comfort and safety. It calls for no sailboat. 
Middle Age would be terrified by a canoe. 
Canoes are frail and easy to upset. Sailboats 
must be manipulated with dexterous hands and 
quick eyes. Middle Age likes a boat with a flat 
bottom, or a bottom that sets so deep in the sea 
that there is no danger of its upsetting. 

Then there is the Derelict of Life. 

There are many such boats on Life’s sea. 
They are a menace to all of the other carriers 


162 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


on Life’s sea. They are a menace to Child- 
hood, to Youth, and to Age. They drift aim- 
lessly about. Legitimate trafic may come upon 
them in the night or in the fog. They are al- 
ways a liability to life, whether they be in a 
city or on the sea of Life. Derelicts should be 
charted and marked. They should be rehab- 
ilitated, if possible, they should be made im- 
possible. 

In Brittany the fishermen have a little prayer 
which they pray as they put out to sea each 
morning: ‘“O God, Thy sea is so great, and 
our boats are so small; take care of us.” 


WHENCE CAME OurR INVENTIONS? 


From Nature! 

Name a single great invention that did not 
originate in Nature. 

All we know about flying we learned from 
birds. 

Where did tools and weapons come from? 
Ask the Walrus. Ask the swordfish. Our 
ancestors learned how to make spears and 
swords from them. Where did we get the 
Awl? From the Grosbeak. 


Pulpit Editorials 163 


Whence came our vehicles of transporta- 
tion? The first was a Travois. This we learned 
from Nature. Then we put two round logs 
under a burden and rolled it. That was the 
beginnings of a wagon. From wagons to auto- 
mobiles was not a far step. 

What about water-vehicles? First a hollow 
log. The first water-vehicle was called a Balsa. 
We learned how to propel it by watching a fish. 
We used wide shells as our first paddles. These 
gradually developed to the great paddles of 
ships, and to the turbines of ships. From hands 
to shells to turbines was a long leap. 

What about money? First, we carried cat- 
tle about and bartered them. Then we got tired 
of this and made a leather piece of money to 
represent a cow. That was “Pecunia;”’ that 
was money. It came from “Pecus,” the word 
for Ox. First, there was leather money; then 
bronze, then copper, silver, gold and paper. 

In architecture it is the same. The arch was 
copied from the arch of the sky. Columns 
were originally trees. Capitals on the tops of 
columns were copied from leaves and clusters 
of grapes, etc. Colors we copied from the 
leaves of Fall, and from sunsets and sunrises. 


164 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


It would be a good parlor game to try and 
think of some invention of men which does not 
have its replica in the world of Nature. Can 
you do it? If you can, let us know. We 
haven’t been able to think of any invention of 
man that didn’t have its first model in Nature. 


PIN-HEADED PRE-HISTORICS 


A recent scientist tells us about an old Pre- 
historic, Mr. Tyrannosaurus rex, by name. 

His name may mean little to most of us, but 
the fact that he was 47 feet long, 20 feet high, 
heavier than an elephant; that he had teeth 
which were half a foot long; that his feet had 
mighty claws; that he could run like lightning; 
that he was the most terrible engine of power, 
precision and ferocity that ever lived; this all 
will interest us. 

But he didn’t live. That is significant. He 
just didn’t survive. He couldn’t keep up. He 
is now only an antique survival of a strange 
day. 

Why didn’t he live? Because he was a Pin- 
head. 

He had nothing in his brain-box. In spite 


Pulpit Editorials 165 


of the fact that that brain-box or skull was 
thirty-six cubic feet, he had only a pound of 
brains in it. Therefore this gigantic reptile 
(for that is what he was) was a Dud. He was 
a flop and a failure. 

We have our “Strangler” Lewises, such 
giants as Tyrannosaurus rex. We have our 
Jack Dempseys. They make more in a single 
night than the President of the United States 
makes in an entire year. That is all very in- 
teresting. But the world has a way of for- 
getting them, and it has a way of remembering 
the Presidents. 

In fact, the world has a way of forgetting 
the Pin-heads of every age; the men of the big 
bodies and the small brains. 

Victor Hugo has a picture in one of his books 
of a small man suddenly confronted on a nar- 
row cliff by a huge giant who is ready to murder 
him and throw him over that cliff. But the 
little man pulls out of his cloak a little weapon 
which he has invented through the use of his 
brains; and suddenly he becomes much larger 
and stronger than that huge, hairy giant. His 
brains have made him larger than the largest 
beast or savage on earth. 


166 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


It will be noted that the Pin-heads do not sur- 
vive long even in our modern life. Industry, 
newspapers, business, soon drop the Pin-heads. 
They do not survive any more than the old giant 
we have mentioned as having lived back in the 
reptilian age. 


It’s BAREFOOT-TIME Now, Boys AND GIRLS 


Can you remember the first day your mother 
allowed you to take off your shoes and stockings 
and go barefooted? 

Can’t you remember the feel of the grass on 
your feet, and the careful way you picked a path 
across a cinder road or across a stubble field 
on that first day? 

Isn’t it too bad that the boys and girls of this 
generation are missing that glorious first day 
of taking off their shoes and stockings? We 
do lose things that are worth while, don’t we? 

There are certain great and glorious days 
that more or less correspond to those old days 
when we were allowed to take off our shoes and 
stockings: 

(1) There is the day we take our winter 
underwear off. | 


Pulpit Editorials 167 


(2) There is the first morning that we find 
a dandelion blooming on the lawn. 

(3) There is that “grand and glorious feel- 
ing’ we have the first day that we hear a robin 
singing. 

(4) There is the opening day of the Ball 
Game. 

(5) There is the day that School lets out, 
and vacation comes, and the wind is soft from 
the south and we find ourselves sitting on the 
bank of a stream fishing a little and reading 
a book a lot, and kicking our heels up in the 
air for the sheer love of life and living. 

(6) Then there is that strange disease that 
attacks little girls and makes them want to go 
about jumping rope on every sidewalk at the 
same time that the fields are full of little calves 
jumping fences. 

It is all a glorious part of the same urge. 

We all need a chance to skip rope. We all 
need Fishin’ days, and a chance to go bare- 
footed. We all need to have that peculiar feel- 
ing we used to have when School let out—that 
last day of School—with all the world stretch- 
ing out before us for rest, play, travel, recrea- 
tion. 


168 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


Re-creation—that is the meaning of it all. 
We need to recreate our bodies, our minds, our 
imaginations, our souls. 

That is the spiritual need and the spiritual 
meaning of these Barefoot Days, these first 
swimming days, these first fishing days, these 
days when we take off the old woolens, and go 
to the opening game, and jump rope, and fly 
kites, and play marbles, and go on vacations, 
and gather wild flowers—and act like little 
calves jumping over fences. 

There is hope for the world when we grown- 
ups can get the feel of that spirit now and then. 


Tue Most SENSITIVE PLANT ON EARTH 


There is in the tropics a plant which is called 
“The Sensitive Plant.” 

If you touch this plant it curls up as if some 
steel spring was a part of its inner workings. 

But Luther Burbank says that the most sen- 
sitive plant on earth is a Child-plant. 

Burbank is interested intensely in two things: 
Plant life and Child life. He calls our at- 
tention to the fact that metals are the least 
responsive to outside stimuli. It takes power- 


Pulpit Editorials 169 


ful acids, or intense heat, or great power, to 
change metals such as iron, silver, or gold. To 
work with metals one has to use great vats of 
acids, great furnaces, great steel hammers. 

Plants are next in the scale of sensitiveness. 
Plants do not need any such outside stimuli 
to change them. Leave a little iron out of its 
reach and the green leaf of a plant will turn 
white. Put it in a cellar where it cannot tap 
the sunlight and the green leaf of a plant will 
also turn white. Mr. Burbank says that a 
plant will respond to nicotine, ether, chloro- 
form, and alcohol, just as a human being does; 
they are that sensitive and delicate. They get 
drunk, they become unconscious, they die. 

Mild heat will work a magical change in a 
plant; sunshine, atmosphere, and such minor 
forces will change plant life at will. 

But when we come to a Child-plant Burbank 
plays hob with Dr. Wiggam, and the school of 
“Hereditary Fiends,”’ as some one has called 
them for Mr. Burbank believes that what hap- 
pens to a child in its first ten years will deter- 
mine its eternal destiny. He says: “All ani- 
mal life is sensitive to environment, but of all 
living things the child is the most sensitive. 


170 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


Surroundings act upon it as the outside world 
acts upon the plate of a camera. Children re- 
spond to ten thousand subtle influences which 
would leave no more impression upon a plant 
than they would upon the Sphinx.” “A child 
responds to Repetition quicker than any other 
plant,” says the great plant breeder. By Repe- 
tition he means Habit—good or bad. 

“You can breed into a Child-plant any trait 
you want it to have; and you can fix that trait 
forever in its soul,” says Burbank. That means 
that we can offset the influences of a bad in- 
heritance. Finally, says Mr. Burbank; ‘The 
Indian, the Ragamuffin, the Criminal, are 
made—and they are not born!” Which means 
that our schools, our homes, our churches, our 
governments, our newspapers, have an eternal 
responsibility in what happens to this delicate, 
sensitive—indeed, most sensitive of all living 
things on earth,—the Child-plant. 


THe MrrAcLeE oF MoTHERHOOD 


A real Mother washes little limbs and teaches 
hymns. 


Pulpit Editorials 171 


That sums up the twofold element of mother- 
hood. 

It is rooted in earth but it ends in the stars. 
It is practical but it is spiritual. 


John Masefield sums it up in two lines: 


“T’ve washed eight little children’s limbs. 
I’ve taught eight little souls their hymns.” 


That’s motherhood there in those two little 
lines; the kind we know and the kind we cher- 
ish. Most of us have the sweet memory of a 
mother of that kind; one who could darn socks, 
make clothes, mend pants, wash faces, heal 
sores. She was cook, doctor, teacher, spiritual 
guide. She could tie a rag around a sore toe 
better than anybody on earth. She could bake 
better cookies and pies, and she certainly knew 
how to fry chicken and make potato cakes to 
the king’s taste. And, all the time, it was she 
who saw to it that we were all ready for Sun- 
day School on Sunday morning; and, inciden- 
tally it was she who found out at noon whether 
we had all been there. It was she who found 
time on each evening, not only to wash the 
dishes, but to hear our prayers said. 


172 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


She was an efficiency expert that makes the 
modern so-called Efficiency expert look like a 
clumsy bungler. 

Masefield also sings a tribute to Motherhood 
in these lines which all find an echo in our 
hearts: 


“In the dark womb where I began 
My mother’s life made me a man. 
Through all the months of human birth 
Her beauty fed my common earth. 
I cannot see, nor breathe, nor stir, 
But through the death of some of her.” 


The ideal mother is practical but she lives in 
the spiritual. She feeds both our bodies and 
our souls. 

Hutchinson’s book “One Increasing Pur- 
pose” has the picture of its hero, Simon Paris, 
in his perplexity, going into a church. There 
are two sentences in close juxtaposition, with 
but a single paragraph between them. They 
are significant : 


“He found himself alone in a church.” 


“And immediately he began to think of his 
mother.” 


Pulpit Editorials 173 


We start with mothers on earth but we end 
with them in the skies. The very way they 
bring us into the world is of the earth, earthy; 
of the flesh, fleshly. But they directly begin 
pointing out the stars to us. They are the most 
glorious combination of the practical and the 
spiritual that earth knows. And finally they 
lead us to a feeling of reverence that is beau- 
tifully expressed in the two further lines: 


“O Mother, when I think of Thee 
*Tis but a step to Calvary.” 


Such is the Miracle of Motherhood about 
which we ponder these days in early May, with 
_Mother Day just ahead of us. 


It’s KITE-FLYING TIME 


Boys are flying kites these windy March 
days. 

All over America we will see them on hill 
and field, on every vacant city lot. The trag- 
edies of this kite-flying season we see hanging 
on telephone wires and in high trees. 

One of the most pathetic sights the city af- 
fords is the sight of a ruined kite hanging by 


174 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


its tail, or by its home-made body to a tree or 
the gable of a house. 

Weall fly our little kites. 

Uncle Joe Cannon in an interview given to 
this paper said in answer to a question as to 
what he thought of Roosevelt, “He was all 
right until he flew that little kite of his.” 

Asked what he meant he said: “The Bull 
Moose Party.” 

All of our readers may not agree with Uncle 
Joe that Roosevelt was flying a kite and some 
may. At least his kite got caught in the tele- 
eraph wires and it hangs there yet, battered 
and broken, torn in shreds by the winds of 
political chance. 

Some editorials are like kites ayihe in the 
winds, caught in the wires as are some sermons, 
and much talk, and some friendships, and even 
some homes; and many dreams. But that isn’t 
any reason why, when the mood is on, one 
ought not to fly kites. 

Kite flying time makes us think of the little 
fellow who was flying his kite and the cord that 
held it swung around a big house. The boy 
could not even see his kite. An old man came 
up to him and said, “What are you doing?” 


Pulpit Editorials 175 


“T’m flying a kite,” said the boy. 

“How do you know? You can’t even see 
your kite.” 

“No, I can’t see it, but I can feel it pull,” 
said the boy. 


Then the old verse comes back to adults at 
Kite-flying time: 


“Boys flying kites 
Haul in their white-winged birds 
But you can’t do that when you’re flying 
words. 
Words, unspoken, sometimes fall back dead 
But God Himself can’t stop them when 
they’re said.”’ 


Boys ARE PLAYING Marsites Now 


Everywhere boys squat down around a ring 
and play marbles these days. 

It is marble-playing time. Each season has 
its traditional games in Boyland. These play- 
periods come around as surely as the seasons 
and the months. 

Our adult fingers itch to get a “shooter” 
in our fingers, snuggled against our thumbs. 
We have the same feeling that we do at the 


176 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


sight of a ball bat. We feel as if we could 
take that old bat and hit a ball a mile. The 
same feeling comes when we see a tennis 
racket in a window. In imagination we hit 
that new tennis ball and see it skim the net 
like a bird, hitting just within the back lines. 
We have the same feeling at the sight of a 
golf club. We can feel the impact of that 
club against a little white ball, and we can see 
it sailing off through space. But to get an 
“agate,” or a “blood-eye’ against a thumb, 
that is the most glorious feeling of all. And to 
get down on one’s knees in the dirt, that is sub- 
lime. We are all and always boys playing 
marbles in a little ring. 

What are American politicians? Boys play- 
ing marbles in a little ring. 

What are European diplomats? Boys play- 
ing marbles in a larger ring. 

What is the usual Athletic Club in the aver- 
age American city? Boys playing marbles in 
a little ring. 

What is the spirit of the average Noon-day 
Lunch Club? Boys playing marbles in a little 
ring. 

When most of us were in school they taught 


Pulpit Editorials 177 


us that the greatest thing in the Universe was 
the Solar System, with our sun at its center. 
But now they come along and tell us that our 
Solar System, with our sun at its center, is 
like a few boys playing marbles in a ring, com- 
pared with the great Stellar System of which 
our Solar System is but a small part, and our 
sun like a pewee in the center of the ring of 
marbles. 

“The Outline of Science” is the most popu- 
lar source to get a new comprehension of what 
this Stellar System is, compared with our Solar 
System. 

These fine clear Spring nights it is a fine 
sport to imagine the great sky above is a ring 
of marbles and that we grown-ups are Boys 
Playing Marbles again. Let us learn something 
about that Universe above us and about us. 
Then we will know what Alfred Noyes meant 
when he heard one of the great astronomers 
say, as he peered into the Heavens one night, 
“God Almighty, these are Thy thoughts we are 
thinking after Thee!’ 


178 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


SEA CAPTAINS ARE SILENT 


Sea Captains are notoriously silent and un- 
communicative. 

We remember one very popular captain on 
a Pacific liner who was so flagrantly silent and 
uncommunicative that he found it hard to dis- 
cuss even possible weather conditions with his 
passenger friends. 

He seemed to feel that that would be break- 
ing some traditional pose of a man in his posi- 
tion. 

At the end of the voyage from Manila to 
San Francisco, the humorous passengers got 
out a little booklet entitled “Sayings of Captain 
Yardley.” It was a beautifully bound book, 
but there were nothing but blank pages within 
this beautiful binding. 

After all perhaps it is well to have a silent 
Sea Captain in charge of the Ship of State for 
a few years. 

It will be a good lesson to that America which 
has had as its pet slang phrases since the war, 
“T’ll say so,” and “Tl tell the world!” 

These two pet slang phrases in common use 
in America grew out of the war. Our Amer- 


Pulpit Editorials 179 


ican troops came back through England after 
the war was over admitting that they had won 
the war—practically unaided. 

Maybe our silent Captain will be a good anti- 
dote to a current spirit of talkativeness which 
evolved these two slang phrases in our Amer- 
ican life. 

Silence is a good thing for the soul now and 
then. 

Two men were talking. One was loquacious; 
one silent. The loquacious friend was slightly 
irritated by the silence of his friend and said 
to him, “Why in thunder don’t you say some- 
thing?” 

The silent friend replied, “If I keep silent 
people will think one of two things about me. 
They will either think that I am a fool or that 
I am avery wise man. Why talk and remove 
all doubt?” 

One feels like echoing: “Yes, why ?” 

The old couplet might be changed to read: 


“fA little silence now and then 
Is relished by the best of men.” 


When Joaquin Miller first met James Whit- 
comb Riley, a strange thing happened. They 


180 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


had looked forward to this meeting for years. 
At last a meeting was arranged. Miller was 
to go to Indianapolis. He went. He got off 
of the train. Riley was there. They smiled 
at each other, put their arms around each 
other’s shoulders and walked off, arm in arm, 
without saying a single word to each other for 
several blocks. 

Mrs. Miller said, “Why didn’t you say 
something ?”’ 

“What was there to say?” queried Joaquin 
Miller. 

We Americans have a habit of saying some- 
thing whether there is anything to say or not. 
“Tl tell the world” anything. “Tl say so!” is 
our National Slogan. 

Perhaps it will be a good thing for us to have 
a tradition of the sea in our Captain who is 
now guiding the Ship of State. Maybe we'll 
get a chance to doa little thinking for a change. 

We may not be entirely fooled by the tradi- 
tion of Coolidge which the Republicans are 
building up, but it isn’t half bad to have a 
silent man for a model to the nation. We may 
joke about it; we may smile about it, for we are 


Pulpit Editorials 181 


an exceedingly loquacious people. Stories are 
going the round about his silence, side-splitting 
stories, but it is well to remember that—Sea 
Captains are Silent. 


“RACE oR NATION” 


This is the title of a discriminating book by 
Gino Speranza, and, foreign as his name 
sounds, and is, he is making a plea for the races 
within our borders to forget their racial prej- 
udices and become Americans. 

He says, “During five years, of ‘Liberal’ 
policy in the immigration laws, enough Jews 
passed through Ellis Island to outnumber all 
the communicants of Protestant churches in 
Greater New York. A Jewish publication es- 
timates that of all the Jews in the world one in 
every ten resides in New York City.” 

He further says that: “Out of a white popu- 
lation of 95,000,000 in 1920 14,000,000 were 
born in 45 different foreign countries, and 20,- 
000,000 more were of foreign or half-foreign 
parentage.” 

He also says that “The Polish immigrants 


182 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


are an undigested mass in this country, and 
they become more consciously Polish than they 
actually were in Poland.” 

His conclusions are set forth in a startling 
question which America must face: “Shall the 
American spirit and American ideals as ex- 
pressed in the institutions founded by the 
fathers be perpetuated; or shall democracy be 
modified and changed to fit, if not to suit, the 
spirit, ideals, and institutions of other races and 
other civilizations?” 

In brief: Shall it be “Race or Nation?” are 
we to allow the different racial groups in our 
American life to modify, compromise, annul 
our traditional ideals to suit their European 
standards, or shall we fight to save those in- 
stitutions which are characteristically Amer- 
ican? It may be too late even now, Speranza 
thinks itis. But, at least, we ought to be aware 
of what processes are taking place in our Na- 
tion’s life. Great groups which enter our haven 
of hope as a Promised Land to escape the 
terrors of European tyranny, immediately pro- 
ceed to segregate themselves, with our help 
and connivance; edit their own newspapers, 
speak their own language, and remain more 


Pulpit Editorials 183 


loyal to their racial groups than they do to this 
nation which gives them their refuge. 


THe WorKErRS? THE FIGHTERS? THE 
RULERS AND THEIR GRAVES 


It is all summed up by Gilbert Chesterton. 

As usual it is scintillating, and it is biting like 
a winter-wind. 

There is a sword-thrust in it and a laurel 
wreath to lay upon an English Cenotaph to un- 
known toilers and soldiers. 

It might be applied to politicians who stand 
against the idealism of the common people; or 
the traditions of the nation. Those who for- 
eet our traditions might read with profit the 
following lines and learn something. 

These lines might well be read at Washing- 
ton at every opening of the national legislature. 


“The men who worked for England 
They found them graves at home; 
The birds and bees of England 
Around their tombstones roam. 


The men who fought for England 
Following a fallen star; 

Alas, alas for England 
They found their graves afar! 


184 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


The men who ruled for England 
In stately conclave met; 

Alas, alas for England, 
They have no graves as yet.” 


GOLF AND POETRY 


What has Golf to do with Poetry? 

Might it not mean that a Golfer sees the 
green fields, the tapestried hillsides in the Au- 
tumn, the golden sward with its blanket of 
dandelions in Spring time (if the keeper has 
not been on his job); the twilight stars, the 
tramp home? 

No, not that. We do not mean that kind of 
poetry. 

We mean the kind of a linking of Golf and 
Poetry that is expressed in the following 
quatrain: 


“The golf links lie so near the mill 
That almost every day 
The laboring children can look out 
And see the men at play.” 


Pulpit Editorials 185 


RELIGIOUS RIP VAN WINKLES 


A brilliant young preacher recently summed 
up in a phrase a characteristic attitude which 
some men assume towards the church. He 
called these men “Religious Rip Van Winkles.” 

He was describing that type of a man who 
has not been inside of a church for twenty 
years. He thinks that the church is the same 
church that it was twenty years ago; that it is 
preaching a literal Hell Fire and Brimstone, 
where little children are tossed to the angry 
flames; that it is asking folk to hold up their 
hands and vote on whether they are of the 
Sheep or the Goats, that it is afraid of Science; 
that it is fighting all modern knowledge and 
discovery; that it is an institution for “Old 
Women and Children.” 

This young preacher, Dr. Ralph Sockman, 
says that those who still believe these things of 
the church are Religious Rip Van Winkles, 
who went to sleep twenty years ago, and have 
not awakened even yet. 

This type of a man is common. He was 
forced to go to church when he was a boy, and 
when he became his own master he did not go. 


186 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


He still gives as an excuse for not going the 
fact that he cannot tolerate this “Fire and 
Brimstone Business.” What he does not know 
is that there is hardly a church of any denom- 
ination in America that preaches an archaic 
doctrine like that in these days. 

If some of these Religious Rip Van Winkles 
would shake themselves awake some Sunday 
morning about eleven o’clock and go to some 
alert church, they will have the surprise of 
their lives, finding out how different the church 
of to-day is from the church of twenty years 
ago. 

It is a different church because it is a differ- 
ent world. The church is learning. Automo- 
biles, wireless, airships, have brought the ends 
of the earth close; and new Truth is being dis- 
covered every day. Itis a changing world and 
a changing church. Rip Van Winkles will dis- 
cover that on a first visit to a modern church. 


Out oF WHat You HAVE IN LIFE 
Maxe Music, FRIEND! 


Mr. Burbank turned a golden California 
Poppy into a Crimson Poppy. 


Pulpit Editorials 187 


How? One day he was walking through a 
field and found a Golden Poppy with a spot of 
red as small as a pinhead in one petal. He 
isolated that plant, kept its seeds and replanted 
them. Each year that spot of red grew larger. 
Fach year he sorted out the seeds of the Golden 
Poppy and selected the plants that had the larg- 
est spots of red until he had changed that 
Golden Poppy to a Crimson Poppy. 

Mr. Burbank gave an ugly smelling Dahlia 
the perfume of a Magnolia. 

How? One evening he walked in a bed of 
Dahlias, which, as all flower-lovers know, are 
ugly as to their odor. But Mr. Burbank caught 
a faint but beautiful scent that was different 
from the usual Dahlia perfume. He got down 
on his hands and knees and for hours sought 
out that elusive odor. Finally he isolated that 
plant, cared for it, nurtured it; got the seeds 
from it, sorted them out year after year, until 
he had produced a Dahlia with the odor of the 
Magnolia Blossom. 

Mr. Burbank gave the Verbena the scent of 
the Arbutus, that sweet timid flower of Spring- 
time which hides under the dead leaves. 

How? He found one evening as he walked 


188 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


in his garden a Verbena with a beautiful scent. 
The usual scent of the Verbena is ugly. In 
fact, Mr. Burbank had planned to breed all 
scent out of the Verbena, because its odor was 
so ugly and repulsive, even though its form 
and color were beautiful. 

He searched on this evening for that elusive 
odor. He could not find it. A year passed, 
and on another evening a year later to the day, 
he caught the same odor in that same bed of 
flowers. He did not quit searching until he 
found the individual Verbena which sent out 
that sweet odor, and before he was through 
with that experiment he developed the beauti- 
ful scent of an Arbutus in a Verbena. 

He took what little there was in ugly-scented 
flowers and made them beautiful. He took an 
ugly-odored Dahlia and developed in it the per- 
fume that poets love to write about, the “Sweet 
Magnolia Bloom.” He took the hideous scent 
of a Verbena and developed out of that slight, 
elusive possibility, the perfume of a beautiful 
Arbutus. He took a tiny spot of red ina golden 
poppy and developed it into a crimson poppy. 

“Out of what you have in life make music, 
friend!” 


Pulpit Editorials 189 


“Woutp I Micut RousE THE LINCOLN 
IN You ALL!” 


Lincoln! 

Magic name! 

His birthday is this week—February 12th. 

Vachel Lindsay, American poet, reared in 
Lincoln’s home, Springfield, Illinois, wrote the » 
line that heads this Editorial. He had grown 
up in the Lincoln atmosphere. He had ab- 
sorbed the Lincoln ideals. He knew they were 
good for all Americans and for all America; 
for all that, he knew they were good for all 
the earth. 

Those who have visited Domremy, in France, 
say that all little girls born and raised in Dom- 
remy look like Joan of Arc. Perhaps? But we 
do know that Lindsay has absorbed some of the 
spirit of Lincoln. 

For these days, for this hour, America might 
do well to get back to the Lincoln life—both 
copying after his personal life and after his 
national ideals. What would that mean? 
What would a fulfillment of Poet Lindsay’s 
phrase, “Would I might rouse the Lincoln in 
you all!” mean? 


190 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


It would mean that a spirit of Tolerance 
would sweep over the nation. 

It would mean that a spirit of Patience would 
come upon us again. 

It would mean that a Sense of Humor, and 
the ability to laugh, would come back into the 
White House. 

It would mean that a new spirit of Sacrifice 
for ideals would come to birth again. 

It would mean that a new reverence for God 
and for the sacredness of each individual’s 
Personality would arise again! 

“Would I might rouse the Lincoln in you 
all!’ 


Wuat Witt Live Loncer THAN A 
MARBLE TEMPLE? 


Iron? No! It rusts out in a few years. 

Steel? No! It has many enemies and crum- 
bles! 

Mountain peaks? No! They disappear. 
The famous Gordon’s Calvary in Jerusalem 
with its granite skull is crumbling so fast that 
it cannot be seen even now. 

Channing Pollock, author of “The Fool” and 


Pulpit Editorials 19] 


“The Enemy” says: “A single line will outlive 
a Marble Temple.” 

Test this statement by single lines from the 
Bible. They live. Marble Temples that existed 
then are gone. Greek lines have also outlived 
Greek Temples. 

What are some single lines that will outlast 
our Woolworth Towers and our Quebec 
bridges? Here are some: 

Emerson: “Trust Thyself! Every heart 
vibrates to that [ron String!” 

Carlyle: “Man! Stands he not at the center 
of Immensities, at the conflux of Eternities!” 

Drinkwater: “And Lincoln was the Lord 
of his event!’ 

Markham: ‘“‘And leaves a lonesome place 
against the sky!’ 

Lindsay: “Would I might rouse the Lincoln 
in you all!’ 

Jesus: “Blessed are the merciful for they 
shall obtain mercy.” 

Lowell: “Stern men with empires in their 
brains.” 

Bancroft: “The common mind is the true 
Parian marble, fit to be wrought into likeness 
to a god!” 


192 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


Beecher: “Mirth is God’s medicine.” 
Milton: “License they mean, when they cry 
Liberty!’ 


Pope: “‘Toerr is human; to forgive, divine!” 


“Trry Wuo Most ImMpuTE A FAULT’— 


Faults! They are many! 

But strangely enough they seem to confine 
themselves to other people rather than to our 
selves. 

We so seldom see our own faults; it is so 
easy to see them in others! 

The ever-wise Book suggests that we had 
better get a Spiritual Vacuum Cleaner and a 
suction pump and get the beam out of our own 
eyes before we attempt to remove the mote 
from the eye of another. 

A wise poet has said the same thing in these 
words: “They who most impute a fault are 
pronest to it!’ 

Psychologically the poet is correct. Dr. J. A. 
Hadfield, M.B.CH.B. of Edinburgh Univer- 
sity, says: “It is a well-known fact that preach- 
ers are always preaching against the sins to 
which they are, unconsciously, most prone. 


Pulpit Editorials 193 


Therefore it is literally true that in judging 
others we trumpet abroad our secret faults. 
Paul breathed out threatenings and slaughter 
against the Christians because he was three 
parts a Christian.” 

Gossips, who judge others—whether they be 
Preacher Gossips, Editorial Gossips, or Back- 
fence Gossips—according to modern psychol- 
ogy condemn themselves. Why? Answer: 
Because they admit to men who know, two 
things: They confess that the very faults they 
condemn in others they themselves are pronest 
to. Second, they confess, through the very art 
of gossip, a mental throwback to childhood. 
Children talk small talk—individual children 
and the children of the race. To talk small 
talk, cheap talk, commonly called “Gossip,” is 
an admission of little reading, a small horizon, 
a lack of international or even national view- 
point. The same is true of the man who 
swears. He swears because of a depleted vo- 
cabulary. He would not need to swear or to 
use slang if he felt full of confidence in his 
vocabulary. So with the gossip and fault- 
finder. He admits ignorance and a limited 


194 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


horizon when he engages in small talk. He 
has an Inferiority Complex. 


“Anp LINCOLN Was THE LorpD oF His 
EVENT” 


John Drinkwater says this. 

He says it in his play on Abraham Lincoln. 

He also says it of Oliver Cromwell, who 
came from lonely Huntington to brush aside the 
occupant of the English throne, and seat him- 
self thereon for a time, on behalf of the De- 
mocracies of this world. Drinkwater describes 
this epoch with the same line that he describes 
Lincoln’s forthcoming to take the helm of the 
Ship of State to pilot that storm-toss’t ship 
through the turbulent, tumultous waters of the 
Civil War; ‘And Cromwell was the Lord of 
his event!” 

Who are the lords of their events these days? 

The manufacturer who stands at the focus 
of time and tides, with his own ideas and ideals 
uninfluenced by what others have done or are 
doing; placing people before profits; faith be- 
fore fame; truth before triumph; sincerity and 
simplicity before ostentation and affectation. 


Pulpit Editorials 195 


The editor who listens not to the mob spirit 
of our America; nor to the man with the “‘Pride 
of Intellect ;” nor to the money-makers and the 
soul-breakers. 

The teacher who steps into a school-room 
with the consciousness that he is handling life- 
stuff; that he is a sculptor, molding for Eter- 
nity; molding the nation as well as the soul of 
a little child. 

The parent who commands the respect of 
his own child, the love of his own wife, and the 
esteem of his community, is “The lord of his 
event!” 

Of such may it be said: “These are the lords 
of their events!” 


DEBT AND DouBT 


Debt and doubt are twin brothers. 

Debt breeds doubt, fear, and inferiority in 
an individual. 

When a man is in debt he becomes to that 
degree a coward, filled with misgivings, fear 
and doubt. He is not sure of himself. He is 
vulnerable to that degree. 

There is nothing that will breed what the 


196 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


psychologists call an “inferiority complex’ so 
quickly as getting in debt to another. 

This is true of a city, a church, a state, or a 
nation, as well as it is true of a person. 

France is an illustration of this universal 
truth. France is full of fear to-day. She is 
bolstering up that “inferiority complex” with 
armies, and army maneuvers. Her show of 
arms bolsters up her fear and her doubt of her 
own strength. Her falling franc is a straw 
showing the way the wind of doubt is blow- 
ing. She has lost faith in her own strength. 
It is because of her national debts. 

All of Europe is full of fear and doubt. Eu- 
rope isin debt. The sooner she pays her debts, 
and wins back her self-respect, the sooner her 
fear and doubt psychology will dissipate. 

A debtor nation and a debtor individual are 
always suspicious of that nation and that per- 
son to whom money is owed. To loan money 
is to lose a friend—personally or nationally. 
All Europe hates us because all Europe owes 
us now. We are always afraid of a man to 
whom we owe. That is human nature, and 
that applies to nations as well as to men. 


Pulpit Editorials 197 


The world will be full of doubt as long as 
debt lasts. 


A LittLE Way WE Have HERE IN 
AMERICA 


In Hutchinson’s new book, ‘One Increasing 
Purpose,” there is a conversation about smok- 
ing in the presence of ladies. This conversa- 
tion is carried on in the home of an English 
lord of high repute. The visitor, Mr. Simon 
Paris, is struck by the fact that the men do 
not smoke until the women go. The man of 
that home, Sir Henry, says: “We have a cus- 
tom of not smoking until mother and the girls 
have gone from the room, and then we smoke 
like chimneys. It is just a little way we have.” 

We used to have “just a little way” of that 
kind in the United States of America. 

We like the “ancient and beautiful things” 
here in America. 

We like to preserve the old furniture, the 
old songs, the old pictures of another day. 

We like to think and pretend that we do not, 
but deep down in our hearts the “ancient, out- 
worn, Puritanical traditions of right and 


198 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


wrong’ become us and we have a sneaking 
respect for them. Women in these United 
States do not smoke with very much grace. 
I heard a European say: “American women 
are cigarette wasters.” 

When I asked him what he meant he said: 
“They don’t really enjoy cigarettes. They 
don’t inhale them down deep into their lungs 
as if they tasted good. They nibble at them. 
They waste good cigarettes. American women 
never will be able to smoke cigarettes with any 
ereat naturalness or any great joy.” 

And the European—French to be exact— 
knows what he is talking about because his 
women smoke naturally. Ours do not. We 
still have “a little way with us.” 

We are just naturally so old-fashioned that 
it is hard for the average American to see a 
woman smoking in a public place and not class 
her with a group of women upon whom we 
have learned to look with considerable question. 
That is the natural reaction of the average 
American. If a woman smokes cigarettes she 
is bad. It is not true, for many gracious, beau- 
tiful, and cultured women smoke these days, 
but nevertheless “we have a way with us” that 


Pulpit Editorials 199 


makes us feel thus, and it will take many, many 
centuries of breeding the idea into us that a 
woman smoking is all right. 

“That is just a little way we have,” as Sir 
Henry said. 


ReAapy To Hatt TrRuE LEADERS 


Carlyle was right. We are hero-worshipers. 

Once it was said of a great admiral: “It 
seemed as if the sea stood in awe of this man!” 

The Earl of Kildare who was in rebellion 
against Henry VII of England was brought 
to London to be examined by the Privy Coun- 
cil and the King. 

The King had a sense of humor and also a 
sense of human values. He listened to the evi- 
dence and said: “You tell me that all Ireland 
cannot govern this Earl! Then let this Earl 
govern all Ireland!” 

Emerson said: “From a great heart secret 
magnetisms flow incessantly to draw great 
events!” 

Talleyrand said once upon a time: “Keep 
cool, and you command everybody. Above all, 
gentlemen, no heat!” 


200 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


What have these quotations said to us, from 
varied minds of thinking men? 

The first one says that even the seas stand 
in awe of a great man. Nature recognizes 
greatness when it passes by. 

The second quotation says that kings recog- 
nize greatness. The Earl of Kildare was 
brought before the King as a prisoner but was 
sent away as a ruler. 

The third quotation says that greatness pours 
forth a personal magnetism so that we recog- 
nize greatness whether we will or no. It is 
automatic. I believe that it is. 

The fourth quotation by Talleyrand says that 
a truly great, cool, poised man commands the 
earth. 

John Drinkwater says: 


“When the high heart we magnify 
And the true vision celebrate; 
And worship greatness passing by 
Ourselves are great.” 


Thus we automatically become great in wor- 
shiping greatness. 

They tell us that boys who have grown up 
in Lincoln’s land come to look like Lincoln. 


Pulpit Editorials 201 


They say that little girls who have been reared 
in Domremy, Joan of Arc’s birthplace, in 
France, come to look like the Saint. 

America likes a hero. True enough, often 
we make our heroes out of mud when we wor- 
ship a Jack Dempsey, or a Jack Johnson, or a 
“Red” Grange. 

Rather let us give expression to our natural 
hero worship by enshrining the creators, the 
productive men, the men of genius who think 
through, and dream through, and see through 
our great productive creations. 

Who is the Hero of this new day? Answer: 
The men who sever a continent and unite two 
oceans in wedlock through a Panama Canal. 

Who is the hero of this new day? Answer: 
Men who send the human voice around the 
earth in seconds. 

Who is the Hero of this new day? Answer: 
Men who remake a desert with irrigation and 
“Make the desert to blossom as the rose.” 

Who? Answer: Men who harness the elec- 
trical power of our waterfalls and turn the 
wheels of the world. 

Who? Men who work for a lifetime to learn 
how to split an electron. 


202 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


Hugo well said: “There is only one thing 
mightier than armies and that is an idea whose 
hour has come.” 

Who are the Heroes? “Men whose ideas 
have come. Men who see far enough ahead to 
know what human needs will be twenty years 
before those human needs arrive.”’ 


FIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF TRUE GREATNESS 


One is Simplicity of Soul! 

Test your great men of the past and to-day 
by this test and you will discover that this is 
the first characteristic. This means Sincer- 
ity, of course, and Carlyle used to say that “A 
ereat, deep, genuine Sincerity was the charac- 
teristic of any man who could in any sense be 
called Heroic.” 

Another is Thinking! 

To be great a man must be a thinking man. 
The thinking men see ahead of the rest of us. 
Thinking men become our Poets, our Prophets, 
our Inventors, our Manufacturers, our Engi- 
neers. Rodin has a bronze called “The 
Thinker.” In the original conception of that 
bronze Rodin pictured the upward growth of 


Pulpit Editorials 203 


mankind from the animal, through Savagery, 
through the Cave Man to that great and glo- 
rious moment when he became a thinking man. 
This detail of that group, “The Thinker,” was 
originally intended to crown the top of a thirty- 
foot series of bronze figures. We see only the 
detail figure in our “Thinker.” 

Another characteristic of true greatness is 
Feeling. 

No man is truly great who does not feel. 
A combination of the thinking man and the 
feeling man is a perfect combination. Bayard 
Taylor expressed this type in four magnificent 
lines: 

“Sleep, soldier, still in honored rest 
Thy truth and valor bearing; 


The bravest are the tenderest, 
The loving are the daring.” 


The man who feels knows what Sympathy 
is. Lincoln had sympathy for a pig stuck in 
the mud and for a dog left behind in a journey. 
All truly great men have had sympathy. Na- 
poleon sent thousands of fathers and husbands 
to death without batting an eye. He had no 
feeling; no Sympathy. To that degree he was 
not great. | 


204. Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


The truly great man is a Religious Man. 

Washington always had Family Prayer; he 
always asked grace before meals; he had his 
own Book of Prayer which he selected for each 
day of the week. He attended church regu- 
larly. He was devout. 

Lincoln, while not a member of any church, 
prayed, and attended church and based his lit- 
erary style and his life on the tenets of the 
Bible. 

Gladstone and Mrs. Gladstone walked half 
a mile every morning to worship in a little 
chapel before Parliament opened. 

Cromwell was noted for his piety as well as 
his power as a General. 

A truly great man must have a good deal of 
all four of these elements mixed up in his in- 
eredients: Simplicity, Thinking, Feeling, and 
Religion. 


THE ANCIENT AND BEAUTIFUL THINGS 


We ought to keep them forever. 

These “ancient and beautiful things” are like 
old friends. It is well to make new friends, 
but it is even better to keep the old. 


Pulpit Editorials 205 


These United States of ours have developed 
some things that are worth keeping and we 
ought not to allow them to be driven out by 
Oriental and European importations. 

There are no songs being written in this Jazz 
Day that compare with the old songs that grew 
up out of our past history. What jazz song 
compares with the plaintive, melancholy, and 
spiritual import of “Swing Low, Sweet Char- 
iot,” “Nobody Knows De Trouble I’s Seen But 
Jesus,’ “I Can’t Hear Nobody Pray,” “Sing- 
in’ All Over God’s Hebben’” ? 

It is refreshing that just at this time there is 
a revival of interest in the negro spirituals. 
There have been a dozen books published on 
these spirituals. We are beginning to put a 
proper valuation on our “ancient and beauti- 
ful things.” 

There is also a movement on foot which is 
spreading all over America to preserve the old 
dances and to rehabilitate them and get them 
back into the heart of America. This move- 
ment is being received with enthusiasm every- 
where. 

By “the expulsive power of a new affection” 
the jazz creations of the jungles of the earth, 


206 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


these direct importations from Africa and Java, 
from the lowest, vilest savage debaucheries are 
being replaced by the “ancient and beautiful” 
dances of our forefathers. 

He who saves for America the old music, the 
old songs, the beautiful old hymns of the 
church, the old customs, the old and beautiful 
dances, is making America his debtor forever. 

One needs make no apology for singing over 
and over again “Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me,” 
“Nearer, My God, to Thee,” or even “Annie 
Laurie” or “I Was Seeing Nellie Home” in the 
face of the fact that literally hundreds of thou- 
sands of American business men gather at 
noonday lunch clubs every week and sing with 
great vehemence: 

“T’m a little prairie flower growing wilder 
hour by hour,” or “Old Bill Johnson had a cow 
—ee—00—1i—-oo— ee!” or words to that effect. 

“The ancient and beautiful things” are worth 
preserving in song, in church, in our homes, in 
our public institutions, in our family life. 


Pulpit Editorials 207 


WERE Not So MucuH Arter ALL 


We're not so much after all, we human be- 
ings, compared with a Microbe. 

They are so small that we can’t see them, but 
they can knock us galley-west in a few hours 
these Spring days. 

Dr. Slosson tells us of a Scientist who has 
conceived of a way to tell us just about how big 
a Microbe is compared with a man. 

The plan is to imagine a bacterium enlarged 
to the size of a sphere one inch in diameter. 

If the average man were enlarged in like pro- 
portions he would be thirty miles tall. 

Dr. Slosson also tells us that this rascal of a 
bacterium has a wicked way about him of repro- 
ducing himself every twenty minutes. At this 
rate at the end of twenty minutes more each will 
be adult size and will have reproduced again. 
Within eight hours the one bacterium will have 
become 16,000,000 in number. 

Can you get that? If not, let this gentle 
thought sink into your reader mind; at the end 
of 24 hours—just one day—if nothing hap- 
pened to kill those nice little bacteria, there 
would be just 500 tons of them by weight. 


208 Pulpit Prayers and Paragraphs 


It isn’t large but it multiplies fast. 

The best way to discourage an ambitious 
bacterium like this fellow, or any of his kith or 
kin, is to keep a clean, healthy body, which you 
have given plenty of rest—enough to evacuate 
all of the waste, and build up all the energy 
torn down during the day. Give that body 
plenty of water and try to keep the mind which 
that body houses free from worries, angers, 
fears. 

Also see that that body gets plenty of exer- 
cise. These are simple rules of health and hap- 
piness, but they are absolutely the only safe- 
guard against a dangerous invasion of one of 
thousands of hordes of these little fellows who 
know how to multiply so rapidly. 


~~ 


THE END 





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